The repeat election in Berlin remains exciting to the end: After forgotten postal votes and a recount in the Lichtenberg district, the official result is now certain. The clear favorite is the CDU. The gap between the Greens and the SPD is much smaller.
After the repeat election in Berlin, the SPD is now finally in second place, just ahead of the Greens, with the CDU winning the election. This emerges from the official result, which the state electoral committee determines. The CDU clearly won the election on February 12 with 28.2 percent. SPD and Greens each got 18.4 percent. The Social Democrats have a mini lead of 53 votes, according to the provisional result it was 105 votes. The left came to 12.2 percent in the election, the AfD to 9.1 percent. The FDP flew out of parliament with 4.6 percent.
Nothing has changed with regard to the percentage shares of the parties and the distribution of seats, which were provisionally determined shortly after the election. There are 159 MPs in the new Berlin state parliament. The CDU has 52 seats, the SPD and the Greens each have 34 seats. The Left has 22 seats and the AfD has 17 seats. Based on these final figures, Prime Minister Franziska Giffey, who has been in office since December 2021, could remain in the town hall if the previous coalition of SPD, Greens and Left continues. Because the SPD would be the strongest party in this constellation, even if only by a hair's breadth.
CDU election winner Kai Wegner, on the other hand, wants to form a coalition with the SPD or the Greens. It is still unclear who will enter into coalition negotiations with whom. The exploratory talks between the parties have not yet been completed.
The draft for the official election result was already known at the weekend after research by "Bild am Sonntag". The now fully official figures should bring a little more clarity to the process of forming a government. Since February 17, the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left Party have been exploring in different formats whether there is a basis for starting coalition negotiations and a joint government.
On Monday, the SPD, the Greens and the Left spoke to each other parallel to the meeting of the electoral committee. Another meeting of the CDU and the Greens is scheduled for Tuesday. From the middle of the week, the party committees can be expected to make decisions about which potential partners they are aiming for coalition negotiations with. The further reduced lead of the SPD in second place over the Greens in third place has no influence on the ongoing government formation, said the Greens' top candidate Bettina Jarasch.
The Berlin Constitutional Court declared the election on September 26, 2021 invalid due to "serious systemic deficiencies" and numerous electoral errors and ordered a complete rerun.
State Returning Officer Stephan Bröchler drew a positive balance of the renewed ballot on Monday. "The holding of the first repeat election was a success," he said at the meeting of the state electoral committee. "We have regained confidence in democracy," said Bröchler. "Berlin can vote." But that's no reason to sit back and relax. "We have to get better and learn from mistakes." It is now necessary to tackle structural reforms, such as setting up a state electoral office and strengthening the role of the state returning officer.
