In 1991, the German Bundestag held a vote to determine the capital of a reunified Germany.

There were two options: Berlin and Bonn (the former capital of West Germany). The map shows the voting results of deputies elected from territorial constituencies. As can be seen, Bonn won in this group.

However, there were also deputies elected from party lists, and they preferred Berlin. Thanks to their votes, Berlin became the capital (the overall margin was just 2 votes(!) 491 to 489).

There was one more detail: six deputies elected from territorial constituencies skipped the vote.

Had they shown up, Germany’s capital today could very well have been Bonn.