Press release no. 01/23 of 20. Dezember 2023
2021 Bundestag election will be repeated in parts of Berlin on 11 February 2024
WIESBADEN/KARLSRUHE – The 2021 election to the German Bundestag must be repeated in 455 of the 2,256 polling districts of Berlin.
The CDU/CSU parliamentary group lodged an electoral complaint challenging the Bundestag’s decision of 10 November 2022, which declared the results of the 2021 Bundestag elections invalid in 431 polling districts in Berlin and ordered a repeat election in these districts.
In its judgment of 19 December 2023, the Second Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court went beyond the decision of the Bundestag of 10 November 2022 and declared the election to the 20th German Bundestag invalid in an additional 31 polling districts of the Land of Berlin, as well as in the affiliated postal ballot districts, and ordered a repeat election (Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of the Second Senate of 19 December 2023 - 2 BvC 4/23). Additionally, it repealed the aforementioned Bundestag decision for seven polling districts and the affiliated postal ballot districts in which the Bundestag election was declared invalid.
The Federal Returning Officer and the Land Returning Officer of Berlin will prepare the repeat election.
The repeat election process
The repeat election will be conducted on the basis of the same rules as the main election on 26 September 2021, that is, the voters will have two votes, a first and a second vote.
On 19 December 2023, the Land Returning Officer of Berlin announced 11 February 2024 as the election day in the State Bulletin. He also released instructions for the adaptation of the election procedure to the special circumstances of the election re-run and published procedural information.
Land Electoral Committee and constituency electoral committees to meet on 20 December 2023
The Land Electoral Committee and the constituency electoral committees will meet on 20 December 2023 at 3 p.m. to decide on adjustments to nominations of candidates.
Here, they will also be informed of officially registered changes to the names of candidates or parties. The electoral committees meet in public session.
Press conference of the Land Returning Officer of Berlin to be held on 5 January 2024 at 10 a.m.
The Land Returning Officer of Berlin will provide detailed information on the repeat election and on the progress of preparations for the re-run at a press conference on 5 January 2024.
The election result will be established anew nationwide
In the repeat election, the Federal Electoral Committee will establish the result of the election anew nationwide, taking the results of the repeat election in Berlin into consideration. Therefore, we may see changes in the allocation of seats across the Länder. For example, new seats may be lost or won in Länder other than Berlin. However, the loss of membership will only take effect when the Council of Elders of the German Bundestag decides on the loss of membership of the individual leaving the Bundestag.
Further information on the repeat election following the 2021 Bundestag election can be found on the Federal Returning Officer's website at www.bundeswahlleiterin.de and on the website of the Land Returning Officer of Berlin at www.berlin.de/wahlen.
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