election in Berlin
Because the SPD has a wafer-thin lead: the state returning officer is checking the recount of the votes
Stephan Bröchler, state returning officer in Berlin
© Wolfgang Kumm / DPA
After the election in Berlin, the SPD and the Greens are tied at 18.4 percent. Only 100 votes separate both parties. Now it could be counted again.
In view of the conceivably narrow lead of the SPD in the Berlin repeat election, the state returning officer is examining a recount. “We will take a close look at the numbers again and discuss it with our lawyers,” said Stephan Bröchler, election officer, on Monday of the German Press Agency. According to the preliminary result, the SPD and the Greens both have 18.4 percent of the votes, but the SPD has a wafer-thin lead of 105 votes. “It is indeed a very small gap,” said Bröchler. He assumes that the question of a recount will be decided this week.
The state returning officer was satisfied overall with the course of the repeat election on Sunday. However, there was a “very annoying error” in one of the 2,257 polling stations. There were false ballots there. This was “definitely not relevant to the mandate,” said Bröchler. The state returning officer wanted to give details at a press conference on Monday.