The constitutional and administrative lawyer Christian Pestalozza fears that Berlin’s red-green-red government will become unstable because of the upcoming election repetition. “I am concerned that the coalition partners are less efficient because they are fighting each other in terms of content during the election campaign,” said the professor from the Free University of Berlin to the German Press Agency. There are already first signs of this, said Pestalozza. If the tone between the SPD, the Greens and the Left worsens, the work may be done less effectively because there is no harmony. In the case of officials, there is always a risk of being distracted by the election campaign.
“The question is above all: “What else can be decided by February 12,” said Pestalozza. Legally, there are no sharp limits. “The urgent things will be able to be done unchanged,” according to the assessment of the constitutional lawyer. Topics such as Measures for people because of high energy costs cannot be postponed, but no new ideas can be expected from the politicians in office.
Berlin’s Constitutional Court decided on Wednesday that the election to the House of Representatives must be repeated in its entirety. The vote was invalid because of “serious systemic deficiencies” and many electoral errors. The elections for the House of Representatives and the twelve district parliaments are to be repeated on February 12.
Pestalozza criticized the court’s decision. In view of the court’s unusually detailed assessment during the oral hearing at the end of September, the overall result was to be expected. “What frightens me only in part is the justification or the lack of justification,” says Pestalozza. He misses a 100% investigation.
It is “quite remarkable” what the judges checked to prove electoral errors. Nevertheless, it is not enough to have new elections on a larger scale based on assumptions. “The law only allows conclusions to be drawn from identified errors,” emphasized the constitutional lawyer.
From his point of view, however, the verdict is “the last word”. Pestalozza does not expect that the Federal Constitutional Court will deal with the case. The previous reluctance of the Karlsruhe judges to deal with constitutional complaints against state electoral law speaks against it, he said.
Notification of the State Electoral Committee of October 18, 2021 Final report of the expert commission on electoral glitches Information from the State Election Committee on the 2021 elections and results Law on the Constitutional Court, here Section 29 of the State Elections Act, Section 21 Communication of the Constitutional Court of September 28, 2022 Prof. Christian Pestalozza
