BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin’s constitutional court ruled on Wednesday that elections for the state parliament as well as all 12 district councils must be repeated, according to a spokesperson for the court.
The ruling confirms a preliminary assessment by the judges that numerous electoral errors could have affected the distribution of mandates and thus the composition of the city-state’s parliament, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.
The Berlin Senate’s internal administration and the state election commissioner are already planning for an election on Feb. 12, Tagesspiegel reported.
The city-state’s elections in September 2021 have been criticized for mismanagement, taking place on the same day as the Berlin Marathon and during stricter pandemic restrictions.
Many voters were forced to wait in queues for hours, and there were reports of incorrect, missing or hastily copied ballots due to massive organizational problems.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
