The Berlin Constitutional Court will not decide on a possible repeat of the election to the House of Representatives, which was marked by numerous mishaps, until autumn or winter. The court announced on Wednesday that it was planning to hold an oral hearing in the election examination procedure for the end of September, without giving an exact date.
A spokeswoman explained that an announcement date for the final decision would be announced after the hearing. According to the law, no more than three months should elapse between the conclusion of the oral hearing and the announcement of the decision. Different scenarios are conceivable: The court could declare the election completely or partially invalid or reject the objections.
There were numerous breakdowns and organizational problems in the elections to the Bundestag and the Berlin House of Representatives on September 26. 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. In addition, some polling stations were open well after 6 p.m.
After a number of objections to the election to the House of Representatives, the State Constitutional Court initiated an election review procedure. The Bundestag must decide on a possible repeat of the Bundestag elections in Berlin. At a hearing on Tuesday, Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel called for a partial repetition in six of Berlin’s twelve constituencies. Acting Berlin Election Officer Ulrike Rockmann said at the hearing that she thought it was unnecessary to repeat the Bundestag elections.
“The procedure is a high priority for us,” said a spokeswoman for the constitutional court on Wednesday. “We are working with great thoroughness and care on this very extensive process.” It is possibly the largest that the highest Berlin court has dealt with in its 30-year history.
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According to the spokeswoman, all nine constitutional judges and several academic staff are busy with it. Among other things, they are currently in the process of looking at the election logs from all 2,257 polling stations – these alone contain at least 25,000 pages. The “processing of difficult legal issues” is also on the agenda.
