Electoral scrutiny

An objection may be lodged by anyone or any group of persons eligible to vote and, in their respective official capacities, by the Federal Returning Officer, any Land returning officer and the President of the German Bundestag. Being personally affected is no precondition for lodging an objection.

The objection has to be lodged in writing, which means it must have been personally signed, and substantiated. E-mails do not comply with the requirement of written form. It is however possible to lodge a personally signed objection by fax.

An objection has to be received by the German Bundestag within two months after election day (= 26 November 2021, 12 p.m.).

The objection has to be sent to the following address:

Deutscher Bundestag
Wahlprüfungsausschuss
Platz der Republik 1
11011 Berlin
Germany

Fax: +49 30 227-36097

The German Bundestag will decide on the objection in plenary sitting after the decision has been prepared by the Committee for the Scrutiny of Elections. The election may be declared invalid or a violation of rights stated. Alternatively, the objection may be rejected.

A complaint against the decision of the German Bundestag may be lodged with the Federal Constitutional Court.

The following persons are entitled to lodge a complaint:

• the representative whose seat is disputed
• an individual or group of individuals entitled to vote whose objection was rejected by the Bundestag
• a parliamentary group or a minority in the Bundestag that comprises at least one tenth of the statutory number of representatives.

Complaints must also be lodged within two months once the German Bundestag has decided on the objection.