After the election shame: Berlin lacks paper for possible new elections – domestic politics
After the election disgrace from autumn, Berlin is now going one better. There is not enough paper for the possible re-election!
The repetition of the Bundestag and House of Representatives elections in Berlin is becoming more and more likely. Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel (65) made it clear last week in the Bundestag’s Election Review Committee that he is still challenging the Berlin result.
Eternal queues in front of the polling stations, thousands of rejected voters, mixed-up ballots – too much had simply gone wrong.
“What else has to happen for an election to be repeated?” Thiel asked angrily. The fact that the Berlin marathon fell on election day added to the chaos: Postmen with new ballot papers got stuck in the streets.
And now the next hammer: If Berlin elects again, an election notification must be issued to the household of almost three million. But according to BILD research, Berlin does not have enough paper in stock for this. Municipal reserves are far too scarce.
An internal paper from the CDU Berlin (available to BILD) warns: “Without sufficient paper stocks, smooth elections are not possible.”
The situation on the paper market is extremely tense, with delivery times extending to several months in some cases. The reports that the health insurance companies assessed the corona vaccination obligation a few months ago as unfeasible due to the lack of paper (!) or that social benefits for Ukrainian war refugees are at risk in parts of Germany for the same reason & the Senate are a warning.
Little room for maneuver for the Berlin Senate
The period between a decision of the State Constitutional Court or the Federal Constitutional Court and the date of a repeated repeat election is just 90 days. Households must be notified in an even shorter time.
Little room for maneuver for the Berlin Senate. A BILD request to the Senate Department for the Interior, which has to organize the election, went unanswered.
The Berlin CDU boss Kai Wegner (49) to BILD: “The references to the blatant lack of paper in the event of a new election are worrying. A functioning democracy requires functioning elections. The SPD is to blame for the worst election chaos in the history of the Federal Republic. She and her partner need to show they can do more than screw up an election.”