Berliners will have to prepare for two dates next year for the repeat elections that have become necessary due to breakdowns. Due to other deadlines, the election dates at state and federal level could not be combined, said Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Berlin Constitutional Court declared the complete election to the House of Representatives from September 2021 to be invalid. The vote will be repeated on February 12, 2023. According to a decision by the Bundestag, the Bundestag elections are also to be repeated – albeit only partially. Complaints can still be lodged with the Federal Constitutional Court.
If these are not received within the two-month period, the decision of the Bundestag will become final in January 2023, according to the Federal Returning Officer. The repeat of the federal election must then take place after 60 days at the latest, March 5, 2023 would be the last possible date, said Thiel. The Berlin state returning officer Stephan Bröchler had to determine the date.
The parties in the Bundestag assume, however, that the decision of the Bundestag will be contested. On the basis of a recommendation from its Election Review Committee, the Bundestag decided last week, with the votes of the traffic light parliamentary groups SPD, Greens and FDP, that the Bundestag elections must be repeated in 431 ballot box and postal voting districts in Berlin.
Message from the Federal Returning Officer
