House of Representatives election on Sunday: “So far no evidence of a threat”

State returning officer Stephan Bröchler assumes that the elections on Sunday for the House of Representatives and the district council assemblies will take place safely. With regard to the cyber attack on the state administration and a subsequent blackmail attempt, Bröchler told journalists on Tuesday: “So far there is no indication that there is a threat.” As a consequence of the attack, according to the election management, additional protection was placed around the so-called election environment, i.e. around the systems involved in the elections.

Bröchler was also confident about possible attempts at political influence from abroad. “We know that Russia is targeting us, but we have no evidence that this has manifested itself,” said Bröchler. There have been no large-scale disruption attempts so far. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) said at the beginning of June when presenting the report for the protection of the constitution: “We have to expect that disinformation campaigns may occur on election day and during the election campaign.”

According to Bröchler, there has so far been no disinformation on social media channels that could endanger the election. But definitely false information. The returning officer reported that the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) had been accused of a murder plot online, including against a tennis teacher.

At the press conference, the returning officer also dismissed doubts about the correct process of postal voting. He himself wants to cast his vote at the polling station on election Sunday and described this as the better option for him. Basically, however, he said: "Postal voting is not the dirty corner of the organization of democratic elections. Postal voting is serious."

Even if there is occasional abuse, there is no evidence of systematic manipulation of postal voting, according to Bröchler. In Saxony-Anhalt, before the election there, there were allegations from the ranks of the AfD that there was influence on postal voting in retirement or nursing homes. According to Bröchler, almost half of those eligible to vote have applied for postal votes for next Sunday's elections. In 2016 it was 29.2 percent.

According to Bröchler, there were six cases of incorrect voting documents being sent in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. According to his account, 1,400 eligible voters who had received mail during the same period were then contacted to find out whether there were any further shipments with the unsuitable voting documents.

Around 2.5 million Berliners are allowed to vote in the House of Representatives election, and around a quarter of a million more in the district level election. The difference arises from the fact that in the district elections, not only Germans, but also EU foreigners, are entitled to vote, as is the case at state level. For the first time, 16 and 17 year olds can also vote in the House of Representatives election, a total of almost 55,000 people. The House of Representatives lowered the voting age from 18 to 16 at the end of 2023.

Voter turnout fell to 62.9 percent in the repeat election in February 2023 - so only two out of three eligible voters voted. Participation was even lower in 2006 and 2011 at 58.0 and 60.2 percent.