Berlin, August 1st, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – Berlin’s State Elections Administrator Stephan Bröchler said the German capital was well prepared for the House of Representatives election on September 20th. “We’re on track,” he told RBB Inforadio, describing himself as confident.
More than 95 percent of the poll workers needed for election day had already been recruited, Bröchler said, adding that only a few districts might still need reserve staff. Many poll workers had already trained themselves using a new online course. “We’re entering the hot phase now,” he said, noting that ballot paper production was the next item on the agenda.
Two changes to Berlin’s state election law apply for the first time this year. Sixteen-year-olds are now allowed to vote in the House of Representatives election. And voters will mark their first and second votes on a single ballot, instead of using two separate ballots as before, following the format already used in federal elections. The Senate had set the election date, September 20th, 2026, in a decision made back on June 3rd, 2025.
Russian Disinformation a Concern
Bröchler also flagged Russian interference, including disinformation campaigns, as a major concern ahead of the vote. Authorities would need to respond quickly and publicly if such campaigns emerged, he said, describing the goal as getting “ahead of the wave.” He said he was in contact with platforms including TikTok and Instagram on this front. More details are expected in the coming days on Gretchen, an AI-based tool meant to help citizens detect election-related disinformation.
Parties will be allowed to put up campaign posters on lamp posts starting Sunday at noon. Previously, campaigning could begin at midnight. The House of Representatives changed Berlin’s street law to give poll workers more time to hang the posters. District regulatory offices are expected to strictly monitor compliance with the new timeline, according to Bröchler.
A History of Election Trouble
Bröchler’s upbeat assessment stands in contrast to Berlin’s recent election history. Even more so than in 2017, the House of Representatives election on September 26th, 2021 was marred by serious problems. Several votes were held on the same day, and a long list of issues surfaced at some of Berlin’s 2,256 polling stations.
Voters did not receive ballots at some locations. At others, they received the wrong ones, or ballots that had been copied, which is against the rules as well. Attempts to deliver the correct ballots to the correct locations failed partly because the Berlin Marathon had closed much of the city to traffic that day.
Warning signs had existed before election day but were ignored. Voters cast ballots for local House of Representatives candidates, party lists, Bundestag candidates and parties, and took part in a referendum on the dispossession of large real estate companies, all on the same day.
Alarming Poll Results
Berlin’s Constitutional Court ultimately ordered a rerun of the state election. That vote took place on February 12th, 2023, nearly a year and a half after the original one. The Bundestag’s Election Inquiry Commission separately ordered a partial rerun of the federal election at 300 of Berlin’s polling stations.
Ahead of the upcoming election, there is a problem of a different kind: For the first time since Nazi Germany existed, an extremist right-wing party, the AfD, is heading the polls with 19 percent. Both the far-left Die Linke and the conservative CDU might reach 18 percent, according to the poll results. According to the latter, the center-left SPD stands at 13 percent, the Greens at 16 and the center-right FDP might get four percent. Since none of the democratic parties want to cooperate with the AfD, the extremists will not govern Berlin, even if they win.
