Recount: Sahra Wagenknecht increases pressure on the Bundestag

BSW chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht is not letting up. With a new document, she is increasing the pressure on the Bundestag to ensure that the federal election is examined quickly. “The objection leaders here, especially the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht as a party, expressly want an open, transparent recount with a certain amount of time in advance,” says the letter from the law firm commissioned to the election audit committee. It’s up to that star before.

What is required is a “preliminary process from three weeks“. In addition, the recount should be carried out on “some central locations per constituency bundled“ becometo enable the BSW to check. The party only has around 3,000 members.

The BSW narrowly missed out on making it into the federal election on February 23rd. The party was only around 9,500 votes short of getting over the five percent hurdle. Since then, the BSW has demanded a recount. But the responsible election verification committee Bundestages has not yet decided on the objections and has made a recommendation to the Bundestag. Only then can the party, if necessary, take legal action before the Federal Constitutional Court.

The lawyers emphasize in the name Wagenknechts and the BSW that several well-known constitutional lawyers and political scientists now support the party’s demand. In addition, they point to the recent correction of the mayoral election in Mülheim an der Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the SPD candidate was in the lead, A recount later determined the victory of the CDU incumbent.

“In Mülheim a new count was carried out, although the deficit of the losing candidate was significantly larger than the share of votes that the BSW lacked to enter the Bundestag,” said Wagenknecht star. What is possible in a mayoral election must apply especially where “the legitimacy of the highest democratic authority in our country” is at stake.

“I call on the election verification committee to finally decide,” explained the BSW chairwoman. “Anyone who doesn’t want to recount is simply acting undemocratically.”

The chairman of the committee, the SPD representative Macit Karaahmetoğlu, confirmed receipt of the brief. The letter will be taken into account in principle, he said star. “However, from a factual point of view, the subject matter of the objection remains fundamentally limited to the facts that were presented within the time limit when the objection was filed.” This probably means translated: de facto the new arguments play no role.

The committee chairman wanted to know how long the exam would last not available upon request. “At the current stage of the procedure, it is also being examined whether further information or procedural steps are required to decide on the objection.” Only then would the MPs dealing with the objections submit a proposal for a decision. “In view of this, I ask you to understand that I cannot anticipate the deliberations of the rapporteurs and the committee and therefore cannot give a specific date when the decision will be taken,” said Karaahmetoğlu.

The committee’s decision is also only a recommendation. In the end, the entire Bundestag must decide on a recount. Only then would legal recourse to Karlsruhe be open.

A recount could have massive political consequences. If the BSW were to subsequently enter the Bundestag, the coalition between the Union and the SPD would lose its majority in the Bundestag. And: AfD and BSW had more than a quarter of the seats and could jointly set up investigative committees.