Recount in Berlin-Spandau: AfD candidate wins direct mandate

The recount of an election result in Berlin-Spandau is likely to also have consequences for the number of seats in the Berlin state parliament. During the recount in the Spandau 1 constituency, it turned out that the AfD candidate Tommy Tabor won the most votes there and thus the direct mandate, not the CDU candidate Bettina Meißner, as state returning officer Stephan Bröchler announced in response to a dpa request. The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported on it.

According to Bröchler, the reason for the recount was that the quick report of the result sent by telephone did not match what was in the electoral board's minutes. The correct number was recorded there, according to which Tabor is ahead with 34 votes and not Meißner with 80 votes. “I can’t say why that was at the moment.”

Impact on the number of seats in parliament

Because the CDU candidate did not receive a direct mandate, an overhang mandate will no longer apply. According to Bröchler, the number of compensation mandates must also be recalculated.

This is expected to reduce the number of representatives in the state parliament: “153 candidates will receive a seat in the House of Representatives, not 158, so five will be eliminated.” That is at least the provisional status.

“We are still calculating how this will be distributed across the parties,” said Bröchler. “Ultimately, all of this has to be confirmed by the state election committee on October 12th.”