The Bundestag has finally rejected the recount of the federal election called for by the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). The MPs followed this with a large majority Recommendation of the election verification committee from the week before last. Of the 557 MPs, 427 voted for the recommendation and thus the rejection, 129 voted against and one person abstained.
The BSWwhich narrowly failed to meet the five percent hurdle in the election on February 23rd, now wants to go to the Federal Constitutional Court. “Hopefully the rule of law will prevail at the Federal Constitutional Court at the latest, otherwise we will really live in a banana republic,” said BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht. The voters are “entitled to a correct election result”.
According to the official final result, the BSW received 4.981 percent of the second votes in the election. Entry into the Bundestag was only missed by 9,529 votes. Immediately after that Federal election The BSW blamed counting errors for the close result and called for a recount.
Bundestag sees no reason for a recount
However, the Bundestag considered the Wagenknecht party’s objection to be unfounded. The SPD parliamentary group’s general counsel, Johannes Fechner, emphasized: “There were no voting errors, there were no counting errors that could justify a recount.” All indications of mix-ups were investigated and the results were corrected long ago if necessary. Only the AfD argued that only a recount could eliminate any uncertainty.
Wagenknecht renewed her criticism of the procedure: “The self-proclaimed democratic center shows its deeply undemocratic face.” Party leader Fabio De Masi added: “Germany may have a chancellor without a legitimate majority. Only Karlsruhe can now protect our constitution.”
If the BSW actually enforces a recount in court and still manages to get into the Bundestag, the black-red coalition of Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) would no longer have its own majority. Against this background, AfD MP Fabian Jacobi questioned whether the government is legitimately in office: “It will damage the stability of the state and the reputation of democracy if these doubts are not dispelled.”
