Repeat election in Berlin
Imprisoned AfD candidate Malsack-Winkemann is gaining ground
February 12, 2024, 6:54 a.m
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The partial repeat of the federal election in Berlin has some special features. As in 2021, Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is standing for election, although she is now in custody on suspicion of terrorism. This does not deter voters: the 59-year-old is improving her results, as is the AfD as a party.
In the partial repeat of the federal election, AfD candidate Birgit Malsack-Winkemann was able to slightly improve her result from 2021, although she is in custody on suspicion of terrorism. According to the state election authorities, the imprisoned politician received 5.5 percent of the first votes in her Steglitz-Zehlendorf constituency. That is 0.2 percentage points more than in the original vote around two and a half years ago. At that time, Malsack-Winkemann had missed re-entry into the Bundestag.
According to the election management, Malsack-Winkemann received a total of 9,277 votes. The result is made up of the votes cast in the partial repeat of the election on Sunday and the votes from the original federal election on September 26, 2021. The AfD as a party also made slight gains in Steglitz-Zehlendorf. She received 10,036 second votes. This corresponds to 5.9 percent and is also an increase of 0.2 percentage points. As in 2021, the direct mandate for the Steglitz-Zehlendorf constituency went to the CDU politician Thomas Heilmann.
Malsack-Winkemann, like many other suspects, was arrested in a major raid in December 2022. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses her of membership and support of the right-wing terrorist Reich Citizens’ Movement. The 59-year-old has admitted some of the allegations, but denies the group’s terrorist intentions. The investigators accuse the politician of having planned an armed attack on the Bundestag and the kidnapping of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach together with the other suspects.
AfD is also gaining ground
A special feature of the partial repeat of the federal election in Berlin was that the parties were not allowed to put forward any new candidates; the ballot paper had to look like it did in 2021. Therefore, like in 2021, Malsack-Winkemann was up for election.
The AfD also managed to improve its election results in absolute terms. According to the state election authority, she increased her result by 5,326 to a total of 159,020 votes. All other parties lost absolute votes in the election compared to 2021. Voter turnout was significantly lower than the original vote. It is only around 50 percent.