Berlin is preparing for elections on Sunday, September 20, with enhanced organizational measures and the ambition to prevent a repeat of the problems that marked the vote in the German capital in 2021.
Around 2.49 million people are eligible to vote for the new composition of Berlin's Chamber of Deputies. For the first time, German citizens aged 16 and 17 can also participate in these elections.
The head of the election administration is Professor Stefan Bröchler, who has held the position since 2022. He spoke to the FAZ about the preparations for the vote and the measures taken after the problems five years ago.
In September 2021, long queues, missing or incorrectly delivered ballot papers and other organizational irregularities led to the unprecedented decision to repeat the local parliament elections in February 2023.
This time, Berlin has 2,542 polling stations and 1,572 postal vote counting stations. Up to 40,000 people can participate in the organization – about 5,000 more than in the previous vote.
The number of voting booths has also been increased to avoid long queues.
One in three has requested to vote by mail
Voting by mail will once again play a major role. 823,215 voting certificates have been issued, representing 33.9% of those eligible to vote.
Bröhler expects that around half of the voters who took part will ultimately have chosen this method of voting.
However, the preparations were not without problems. In Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, around 1,400 voters received postal voting documents with ballots for the wrong constituencies. The authorities have begun replacing them.
Cyber attacks are among the main risks
In addition to traditional organizational problems, this year the authorities are paying special attention to cybersecurity and disinformation.
Following a serious cyber attack on Berlin's information infrastructure in August, the protection of election-related systems has been further strengthened.
Bröhler said that there are currently no signs of a successful attack on the election organization.
The authorities are also monitoring the spread of false information on social networks that could undermine confidence in the vote.
Polling stations close at 6:00 p.m. local time on Sunday. The first official results are expected around 7:30 p.m., and the preliminary final result for Berlin around 1:30 a.m. on Monday.
For the German capital, the vote will be not only a political test, but also a check on whether the election administration has finally managed to overcome the problems that led to the election chaos in 2021.