live blog
Status: 02/12/2023 5:02 p.m
In Berlin, voters will once again decide today on the composition of the House of Representatives. Will the repeat election bring new majorities? So far, the election observers are satisfied. All developments in the live blog.
17:00 o’clock
Election observer: “Overall impression is that everything is going really well”
In the afternoon, the international election observers of the Council of Europe were satisfied with the course of the repeat elections in Berlin. “The overall impression is that everything is going really well,” said delegation head Vladimir Prebilic of the German Press Agency before the polling stations closed. “Things are really well organized, I have to say.” The ten-strong delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe visited polling stations in all twelve districts of Berlin in small teams. According to Prebilic, they spoke to electoral officers and observed the processes. The election workers knew what to do, there weren’t long queues, and nobody complained, Prebilic said.
Vladimir Prebilic is satisfied with the way the elections have gone so far.
Image: dpa
“The election day is going according to plan so far”, Robert Holm, RBB, on the election to the House of Representatives in Berlin
tagesschau24 4:00 p.m., 12.2.2023
17:00 o’clock
Lower voter turnout is emerging
In the repeat elections to the Berlin House of Representatives, there are signs of a lower turnout. By midday, 23.4 percent of the 2.4 million eligible voters cast their votes, fewer than in the previous elections to the House of Representatives. Taking into account the polling cards issued in advance, the turnout was 1.7 percentage points below the turnout in the elections to the House of Representatives in 2016. At that time, 25.1 percent of those entitled to vote had voted by 12 p.m. By midday, 27.4 percent had cast their votes in the 2021 election that was declared invalid. At that time, however, only the turnout of the parallel federal elections was determined.
17:00 o’clock
Why is there an election in Berlin today?
This choice was not planned. The first state election of the year was actually supposed to take place in Bremen in mid-May. But the fact that Berlin is starting is due to the conditions on September 26, 2021.
In the capital, people were not only called upon to vote in the Bundestag elections, they were also supposed to re-determine the House of Representatives and the district assemblies and vote on the referendum on the expropriation of large housing companies. The Berlin marathon also took place at the same time.
The super election day turned into super chaos: There were numerous mishaps such as missing ballot papers, temporarily closed polling stations and long queues. For the Berlin Constitutional Court, these were so serious that it declared the elections to the House of Representatives and the district parliaments completely invalid – and thus forced a repetition.