Berlin stages partial rerun of 2021 German federal election

Half a million Berliners were called to return to the polls on Sunday (11.2.2024) for a repeat of Germany's federal election two years ago after officials in the capital were found to have bungled the original election in some constituencies.

Results on Sunday evening mirrored the trends in recent opinion polls, albeit perhaps in a more understated form: slight gains for the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and for the far-right opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD), and relatively modest losses for the three parties that make up the center-left federal coalition government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz: The Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). 

Berlin's mayor Kai Wegner attributed his party's gains to the work of the city state's local government, which is currently a coalition of the CDU and SPD, and also something of a rarity for the capital. 

"It's above all a result of us doing good work as a government in Berlin," Wegner said on regional public broadcaster RBB. "We have a good atmosphere around the CDU in the city." 

Overall pecking order is unchanged

With all votes counted, the CDU was able to improve its result in Berlin by 1.3 percentage points to 17.2%. The AfD also gained one point to 9.4%.

The parties in the federal coalition government lost accordingly. The SPD lost 1.2 percentage points but remained the strongest party with 22.2%. The environmentalist Greens followed with 22.0% (down 0.3 points). The Free Democratic Party (FDP) won 8.1% (minus 0.9 points).

The Left Party gained 0.5 points and achieved 11.5%.

Turnout had been seen as an issue for concern as part of Berlin was called to a third vote in comparatively short order. Indeed at under 70% it was considerably lower than would be normal in a full-blown federal election. 

The leading SPD candidate, Franziska Giffey, said people should not read too much into this, however. 

"I believe you can't draw many conclusions for future votes," she said. "This was an exceptional election, it's a very limited number of voting districts [participating]," she told the German DPA news agency.

Why was the partial rerun necessary? 

In December, the country's Constitutional Court ordered a partial rerun after numerous mishaps were discovered during the original election on September 26, 2021,

They included incorrect ballot papers, ballots going missing and queues of people waiting outside polling stations until after regular polling hours.

Some voters didn't get to vote amid the chaos, while others cast their ballots after the media had already published result projections.

The Berlin Marathon was held on the same day, making it more difficult for officials to deliver replacement ballots to voting locations.

Berlin has already held a rerun on the state vote, which was held alongside the federal election in 2021, and which resulted in a change of mayor.

Could the result change the German government?

Sunday's rerun affected around a fifth of Berlin constituencies — about 455 of the city's 2,256 electoral wards — but will not alter Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left coalition as it involved less than 1% of the country's voters.

Voters send a warning to Scholz's coalition

The rerun served as a litmus test of the popularity of the governing coalition, made up of the SPD, Greens and the FDP.

Scholz's government has seen its support sink as the country deals with an economic downturn due to the lasting effects of high inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine, as well as falling demand for German exports.

The far-right AfD has seen a resurgence in popularity, particularly in eastern Germany over the past two years, as it campaigns against immigration.

Rerun could cause new issues

Some Berliners have questioned the need to hold a rerun so shortly before Germany's next federal election — due no later than October 26 next year.

The vote had to involve only those who had voted or stood for election in September 2021, excluding Berliners have reached the voting age since 2021 and would be eligible to take part in a fresh general election, while including former Berlin residents who have meanwhile moved away.

The original vote saw AfD candidate Birgit Malsack-Winkemann run for election. She is now in custody, accused of supporting a far-right terrorist organization. Her name was left on the ballot for the rerun. She improved her election result by 0.2%.

With material from DPA news agency.

Edited by: Alex Berry, Wesley Dockery 

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