Berlin state parliament shrinks to 153 seats – AfD wins Spandau constituency
A transmission error in Spandau moved a constituency seat from the CDU to the AfD, eliminating compensatory seats. The Left, Greens and SPD still hold 91 of the 153 seats.
Symbolic image · Photo: UMO1 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Berlin's new House of Representatives will be smaller than first assumed. The state electoral committee confirmed the final result of the Sept. 20 election on Monday: the chamber will have 153 seats instead of 158. According to t-online, the reason is a transmission error in Spandau constituency 1, where Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate Tommy Tabor, not CDU candidate Bettina Meißner, won the direct mandate.
Because the CDU now has fewer overhang seats, four fewer compensatory seats are needed. The CDU, the Greens and the SPD each have one seat fewer than first calculated, the Left two fewer. The distribution: Left 45 (25.7 percent), CDU 33 (18.8), AfD 29 (16.3), Greens 25 (14.3) and SPD 21 (12.1).
The correction does not change the coalition options. A majority requires 77 seats. The Left, Greens and SPD, currently in exploratory talks, would have 91 seats; an alliance of the CDU, Greens and SPD would have 79. The outgoing coalition of the CDU and SPD no longer has a majority.