The court ruled that the election must be repeated in 455 of 2,256 constituencies in the state of Berlin, which is one of three German cities that is also a state.

A state election that was held the same day was completely rerun in February. The ruling is not expected to change the current national government´s majority.

Berliners have long been frustrated by the German capital´s notoriously dysfunctional ways, which have been defying clichés of German efficiency for years and have made the city the laughing stock of the rest of the country.