Proposal sought for directive safeguarding workers from ionizing radiation hazards, as per Commission request.

Defective ballots totaling 136 were handed out on September 14th, specifically on the last Sunday. These erroneous ballots, originally from a nearby municipal district, were assigned for the city council elections held through our city's voting platform. Regrettably, they could not be tallied...

, and ASMedia

2025 September 27 . 3:47 PM

2 min read

Proposal for a worker radiation safety directive requested by the Commission concerning safeguards... — Proposal for a worker radiation safety directive requested by the Commission concerning safeguards against ionizing radiation hazards

Proposal sought for directive safeguarding workers from ionizing radiation hazards, as per Commission request.

In the recent municipal election held on 14 September 2025, an issue with incorrectly issued ballot papers was discovered in certain districts of Essen. The affected districts include 21, 33, 35, and 36, where a total of 136 ballot papers were found to be erroneous.

The parties that contested the vote in these affected electoral districts included the SPD, CDU, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, AfD, Die Linke, FDP, Die PARTEI, Partei für Tierschutz, Volt Deutschland, BSW, and Team Todenhöfer.

The numbers of incorrect ballot papers issued in each district are as follows:

District 21: 72 incorrect ballot papers, with a total of 5,635 voters and a difference of 538 votes between the district winner and second place.
District 33: 22 incorrect ballot papers, with a total of 6,404 voters and a difference of 338 votes between the district winner and second place.
District 35: 3 incorrect ballot papers, with a total of 5,207 voters and a difference of 1,141 votes between the district winner and second place.
District 36: 39 incorrect ballot papers, with a total of 6,961 voters and a difference of 231 votes between the district winner and second place.

It's important to note that these incorrect ballots could not be counted on election night and the results of the checks will be presented to the municipal election committee, which will meet next Monday, September 22.

Upon examination, it was determined that the number of incorrectly issued ballot papers was not large enough to influence the direct mandates. The distribution of reserve list seats remains unchanged due to the error. However, the 136 declared invalid votes were counted to investigate the impact on the distribution of reserve list seats.

For more information about this matter, please contact the Press and Communications Office of our city portal. Their contact details are as follows: