The 2021 federal election must be partially repeated in Berlin, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday.

The court said that there had been multiple errors in the vote count in several Berlin constituencies.

The election must be repeated in 455 electoral districts and the corresponding postal voting districts, presiding Judge Doris Köng said.

Chaotic vote

The election in Berlin was marked by long queues and missing paper ballots.

The vote, which took place on September 26, 2021, was for the state election, the city's 12 district assemblies, the German national election and a local referendum.

A loophole allowed ineligible minors to vote in state and federal elections by using a mail-in ballot ordered by someone 18 or over, and mail-in ballots for different elections had to be put in a single envelope.

Berlin authorities scrambled to correct mistakes a few days before polling day by warning local stations to change their procedures to prevent fraud during counting. But another loophole — allowing German nationals living outside Germany to vote in local elections using the same trick — was not closed in time.

The Berlin Marathon was also held on the same day, making it more difficult for replacement ballots to be delivered in some constituencies.

State election also repeated

The state's Constitutional Court had annulled the state and municipal elections.

A rerun of the 2021 municipal election was carried out early in 2023. The conservative CDU took the largest share of the vote and successfully ousted the previous mayor, who belonged to the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).

Socialist Left Party breathes sigh of relief as unaffected by verdict

Germany's struggling Left Party voiced relief on Tuesday, as it became clear that the ruling would not affect the seats it holds in Berlin. 

Had it done so, it could have led to the party falling below the 5% threshold in the national parliament. 

One of its MPs, Gesine Lötzsch, won't face a recount at all, while the partial rerun in Gregor Gysi's district is too small to endanger the large majority he won. 

The Left Party disbanded its parliamentary faction last month when influential member Sahra Wagenknecht pushed ahead with her longstanding threat to form a splinter group. 

sdi/fb (Reuters, AFP, dpa)

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