bIn the partial repeat of the federal election in Berlin, fewer voters cast their votes on Sunday than in 2021. At 12 p.m., the turnout extrapolated to the whole of Berlin was 25.4 percent, according to the state election management, two points lower than in the 2021 main election Number consists of the voters of the valid electoral district results from 2021 and those of the 455 electoral districts with repeat voting. If only the repeat districts are considered, there was a voter turnout of 18.3 percent at 12 p.m.
In September 2021, in addition to the federal election, the elections for the Berlin House of Representatives and the district council assemblies as well as the vote as part of a referendum were held on the same day.
Around a fifth of Berlin's electoral districts were affected by the partial repeat of the federal election; Almost 550,000 eligible voters were once again called upon to cast their votes. A change in the majority in the Bundestag is not expected. However, shifts for individual MPs are possible. Polling stations close at 6 p.m.
During the federal election in September 2021, long queues formed in front of some polling stations in the capital. The reason was missing or incorrect ballot papers, and in some cases there were too few voting booths. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in December that the federal election must therefore be repeated in 455 of Berlin's 2,256 electoral districts.
Preliminary result expected overnight
Because of the feared low turnout in the repeat, state returning officer Stephan Bröchler had repeatedly called for people to vote in the past few days. His authority also organized a campaign with celebrities under the motto “Berlin needs your vote!”. In 2021, voter turnout across Berlin was 75.2 percent, and nationwide it was 76.6 percent.
Pankow was the most affected by the repetition of Berlin's twelve constituencies, where the votes of more than 85 percent of voters were annulled. This was followed by Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (42.7 percent), Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg-Prenzlauer Berg Ost (33.8 percent) and Reinickendorf (31.7 percent). In almost all other constituencies, less than ten percent were called to vote again.
Forecasts from the polling institutes are not expected immediately after the polling stations close at 6 p.m. The counted results will be announced gradually.
The state returning officer expects that a preliminary overall result can be announced around 1:30 a.m. on Monday night. The Federal Returning Officer will then publish the adjusted provisional nationwide final result of the federal election.
Across Berlin, the SPD became the strongest force in the 2021 federal election (23.4 percent). This was followed by the Greens (22.4 percent), the CDU (15.9 percent) and the Left (11.4 percent). The FDP received 9.1 percent, the AfD 8.4 percent, other parties received 9.4 percent. Nationwide, the SPD was in first place, followed by the Union, the Greens, the FDP and the AfD.