In the repeat election, the SPD will lose more than a third of its votes compared to 2021. The Greens remain constant. Voter turnout drops significantly.
Despite a large lead from the 2021 election, Michael Müller (SPD) can only very narrowly defend his mandate in Berlin Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa
BERLIN taz | A severe defeat for the SPD, a dramatic drop in voter turnout, gains for the CDU and AfD, but no changes among the winners in the twelve constituencies: That is essentially the result of the Berlin partial repeat of the federal election on September 26, 2021. The Federal Constitutional Court had ordered the new edition in 455 of over 2,200 electoral districts shortly before Christmas because of the electoral breakdowns in the capital at the time.
One in five people in Berlin were allowed to vote on Sunday, less than 1 percent of the nationwide electorate. In fact, only one in two people cast their vote. Voter turnout fell from 75.4 to 51 percent in the repeat districts compared to 2021.
It was mathematically impossible that the by-election could endanger the formation of a majority by the traffic light coalition in the Bundestag. However, the decision was eagerly awaited in two of Berlin’s twelve direct constituencies because a large proportion of the electorate there were allowed to vote again: in the eastern district of Pankow with the trendy Prenzlauer Berg district and the western district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf around Ku’damm and Bahnhof Zoo.
Müller (SPD) can barely defend his mandate
While the Green Party’s Stefan Gelbhaar further expanded his lead in Pankow, in the western district the city state’s former governing mayor, Michael Müller (SPD), was only able to very narrowly defend his mandate despite a large lead from the 2021 election. In the end, Müller was only 600 votes ahead of the Green Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus and almost 700 ahead of the CDU candidate Klaus-Dieter Gröhler in the overall calculation from the repeat and the electoral districts in which there was no vote again. In 2021, Müller was 5,400 votes ahead of Paus and 8,400 ahead of the CDU man. In percentage terms, the three were now separated by only half a percentage point.
In the 455 repeat electoral districts, the SPD fell – compared to 2021 – in second votes by 7.8 percentage points to 14.6 percent. The Greens – at the federal level, together with the Social Democrats and the FDP, have been part of the heavily criticized traffic light coalition for months – were even able to increase their result slightly, by half a percentage point to 27.7 percent.
The CDU, on the other hand, which had previously been booming in nationwide surveys, increased by almost half in these constituencies and came to 20.6 percent. The AfD (plus 5.6 percentage points) almost doubled its result there – from 7 to 12.6 percent. The Left Party was also able to increase slightly: from 11.9 to 12.6 percent.
Berlin loses four Bundestag seats
In the Berlin overall result Of all around 2,200 electoral districts, gains and losses are lower compared to 2021 due to the results in the 455 repeat districts. One reason here is the significantly reduced voter turnout. The SPD now has a total of 22.2 percent (minus 1.2 percentage points), the Greens achieved 22.0 (-0.4), the CDU achieved 17.2 (plus 1.3), the Left 11.5 percent (plus 0.1), the AfD 9.4 (plus 1.0), the FDP 8.1 (-1.0).
Due to the reduced voter turnout, Berlin has to give up a total of four Bundestag seats to other federal states because the voting ratio of the federal states is shifting. Berlin now has four fewer mandates than after the 2021 election: 25 instead of the previous 29 mandates.
are affected according to the information from the state election authority including the Greens with Nina Stahr, who was elected interim state chairwoman in December. The SPD, the Left Party and the FDP each have to give up a mandate that they previously filled via their state lists. The CDU, whose state general secretary Ottlie Klein was in danger of losing her mandate in this way, is not affected.
2024-02-12 08:40:12
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