Voters in hundreds of Berlin constituencies were heading to the polls on Sunday for a partial re-run of the 2021 federal election, after numerous mishaps the first time round.
In December, Germany's Constitutional Court ordered a repeat after the botched elections in the city-state on September 26, 2021, including ballot papers being incorrect or going missing altogether.
Queues formed outside polling stations beyond the supposed close of voting when projected results had already been announced.
So on Sunday, 549,549 Berliners may cast their ballots in 455 of the city's 2,256 constituencies and associated postal voting districts, or around a fifth of the overall number.
The vote will not alter the majority of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left governing coalition as it affects only 0.9% of voters nationwide.
However, the capital's voters could make minor changes in the make-up of the Bundestag, as the German parliament is known. Berlin currently has 29 of the 736 lawmakers in the national parliament and some lawmakers are at risk of losing their seats while others might be returned for the first time.
At a broader level, the vote is seen as marking the start of a key election year in Germany, with European elections scheduled for June 9, then state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September.
However, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) will probably not prosper in the re-run. The AfD has seen support surge in opinion polls in eastern states such as Saxony, but does not have the same widespread appeal in Berlin.
The re-run comes after Berlin's 2021 vote was marred by lengthy queues and incorrect or missing paper ballots, along with polling stations that had to stay open after the 6 pm official closing time.
The Berlin Marathon was held on the same day, contributing to the chaos and making it more difficult for officials to deliver replacement ballots to voting locations.
Some voters wound up casting their ballots after forecasts had been released while others did not manage to vote at all amid the chaos.
Berlin held four votes on the same day on September 26, 2021: the federal election, the state election, local district elections and a referendum.
A rerun of the 2021 state vote has already been held. It resulted in a change of mayor last year.
Sunday's election is historic in Germany in that it is the first re-run of an election ordered by the Federal Constitutional Court.
However, there are fears that turnout in the repeat will be far lower than the 75.2% city-wide in the original vote.
Although voters are heading to the polls in all 12 Berlin Bundestag constituencies, no change of lawmaker is possible in some areas where very few districts are affected.
The layout of districts means in some streets, residents on one side of the road may vote again while their neighbours living opposite cannot.
Furthermore, as the same candidates have to stand as in 2021, one former lawmaker currently in custody is also formally listed.
Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is a former member of the AfD.
She is listed although she is in custody after being detained in a large-scale raid at the end of 2022 on accusations of membership and support of a far-right terrorist organization.
But while the list of candidates must stay the same, the electorate has changed, with some Berliners having since reached voting age, while others have moved to the parts of the city where the re-run is being held.
So some first time voters may cast a ballot on Sunday who were too young to do so in 2021. Likewise, newcomers to the city may also vote if their particular area is affected.
