German court rejects a vote recount demanded by populist BSW party
Germany’s Constitutional Court has declined to order a recount of the country’s parliamentary election last month in which the upstart populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party fell short of gaining seats in the Bundestag.
The court announced its decision on Thursday evening.
“As was the case before the election, legal protection with regard to this election is only possible to a limited extent before the final election result is determined,” the highest German court said.
The official final result of the national election is to be announced by the Federal Election Committee on Friday. Objections can be raised and, if necessary, legal action could be taken after this result is announced.
A BSW spokeswoman had confirmed the party’s legal filing on Tuesday. The party had filed several motions, including one demanding that the official final result only be determined after a complete vote recount.
Official preliminary results from Germany’s February 23 election put the BSW at 4.972% of votes, just below the 5% threshold that parties normally need to pass to claim seats in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.
Since then, individual local recounts in several places have revealed that some votes appear to have been misallocated. However, those recounts have not led to any significant changes in the results.
For the BSW, which was only founded at the beginning of 2024, entering the Bundestag would be of the utmost political importance.
If it were to find a way into parliament after all, seats would have to be redistributed. A coalition of two parties, the centre-right CDU/CSU bloc and the centre-left SPD party, could possibly no longer have a majority.
