Around 80 judicial officers and police officers are on duty to secure the hearing at the Constitutional Court on the validity of the election to the Berlin House of Representatives. Because of the unusually large number of people involved in the proceedings, the negotiations are being held in a large lecture hall at the Freie Universität in Berlin-Dahlem, which can accommodate up to 570 participants. According to a judicial spokeswoman, around 40 judicial officers are on site alone. As the police operations manager added on Wednesday morning, there are as many police officers added.
The first parties to the process have already arrived at the place of the hearing, and the public who want to follow the court hearing have already arrived. The case is considered one of the most important in the history of Berlin’s highest court. For the first time, the judges met outside their domicile in the Superior Court building.
There were numerous glitches in the election on September 26 last year. These included incorrect or missing ballots, the temporary closure of polling stations and long queues in front of them, sometimes with waiting times of hours. For today, Wednesday, Berlin’s highest court is expected to make a preliminary assessment of whether the election must be repeated in whole or in part.
Notes from the Constitutional Court on the hearing Notification of the State Electoral Committee of October 18, 2021 Final report by the expert commission on electoral glitches Information from the State Election Committee on the 2021 elections and results of the Gestz via the Constitutional Court, here Section 29 of the State Elections Act, Section 21
