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"It borders on arbitrariness" - Sharp criticism of the new traffic light plan for the new elections in Berlin

According to the proposal by the SPD, Greens and FDP, the federal elections in Berlin should be repeated last September in 431 polling stations in the federal capital due to numerous breakdowns in voting.

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"It borders on arbitrariness" - Sharp criticism of the new traffic light plan for the new elections in Berlin

According to the proposal by the SPD, Greens and FDP, the federal elections in Berlin should be repeated last September in 431 polling stations in the federal capital due to numerous breakdowns in voting. That is significantly more voting districts than initially planned by the traffic light coalition. And yet there is sharp criticism of the approach from the ranks of the Union parties, which had called for new elections that are as comprehensive as possible.

A repetition in 431 polling stations would roughly correspond to the number that the Bundestag Election Review Committee had already agreed on in July. However, it has since been rejected by the traffic light parties and reduced to 300. The FDP in particular fears a drop in votes in a large number of constituencies and thus the loss of seats in the Bundestag.

“The coalition has turned the Election Review Committee into a political bazaar. However, the election examination committee must make its decisions exclusively in accordance with the law. The back and forth shows that the coalition is unfortunately no longer concerned with legal considerations, but primarily with party-political considerations, ”said Patrick Schnieder (CDU), parliamentary manager and chairman and responsible rapporteur of the Union faction in the election examination committee, WELT.

The number of 431 polling stations in which the voters are to be called to the polls again has no factual basis. “Here, the legal screws are turned until the politically desired result comes out. That borders on arbitrariness,” criticized Schnieder. “It is unfortunate that the coalition is politicizing the process in this way, undermining confidence in the integrity of the election scrutiny. We stick to our position: the repeat election in a good 1,200 polling stations, as required by the Federal Returning Officer, is the absolute minimum.”

Criticism also came from the chair of the Bundestag's Election Review Committee, Daniela Ludwig (CSU): "I welcome the fact that the impasse that has been going on since August could come to an end. However, as chairman of the committee, I attach great importance to the members being able to see the information on which a decision is based in a reasonable amount of time," said the CSU politician. “And it is not appropriate to distribute a resolution recommendation of more than 100 pages 24 hours before the committee is discussed. We must properly advise on the matter.”

The election examination committee is to meet on Thursday, decide on the procedure proposed by the traffic light parties and present it to the Bundestag. Parliament should then discuss it on November 10th or 11th.

The meeting of the committee last week was called off after a short time without a result. Representatives of the traffic light parties had declared that there was no quorum in the matter of the re-election in Berlin. The reasons for this were not given.

The SPD, Greens and FDP had previously informed the committee chairmen one day before the meeting of the committee on September 29 that a decision and thus a vote on how to proceed with the re-election were not possible because they had “new knowledge”. In the meantime it looked as if a political agreement to correct the breakdowns in the federal elections this year would no longer be possible.

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast. The most important topic analyzed by WELT editors and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or directly via RSS feed.

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