Berlin voted for a government for the city state on Sunday, in a re-run of a September 2021 vote that was so disastrously executed that the outcome was annulled by the courts. Early results show victory for the Christian Democrats.
That suggests that an era of 22 years of uninterrupted Social Democrat rule in Germany’s capital may come to an end.
According to results from exit polls reported by public broadcaster ARD, the Christian Democrats were leading with 27.5 percent of the vote, followed by the Social Democrats and the Greens, both with 18.5 percent.
Possibly just as interesting as the outcome of the elections is whether any irregularities will emerge in the hours and days ahead.
Political pundits see the credibility of Germany’s democratic institutions at risk, after the 2021 fiasco that saw voting stations running out of paper ballots and others having ballots with wrong candidates on them. People had to queue for hours, some stations closed early while others stayed open longer than scheduled.
According to international election observers of the Council of Europe, the process this time seems to have run smoothly.
“The overall impression is that everything is going really well,” delegation head Vladimir Prebilic told German press agency dpa before the polling stations closed. “Things are really well organized, I have to say.”
