Berlin will likely need to repeat its 2021 state and district elections, the president of the German capital’s constitutional court has said.
The regional votes in the German capital last September were marred by severe glitches, according to the judge, Ludgera Selting.
Long lines formed outside many polling stations in Berlin on 26 September 2021 as voters struggled with extra ballot papers.
On the same day, Berlin held simultaneous federal, state and district-level elections, as well as a city-wide referendum on expropriating the property of large real estate companies.
Some polling stations ran out of ballot papers while others received ones for the wrong district, leading to a large number of invalidated ballots.
Another issue was that the election was supposed to end at 18:00, but people waiting in line at that time were still allowed to cast their votes.
Several political parties and government entities, including Berlin’s election authority and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party had filed formal complaints and called for an investigation into the election results.
Selting said on Wednesday that errors and problems at polling stations likely influenced the election results and the overall makeup of the Berlin state parliament.
If the court decides that the state and district election results are invalid, a new city-wide election would need to be held within 90 days.
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