European Parliament election 2014

Dates and deadlines

Date Event
Mon, 3 March 2014
(83rd day before the election)		 Last day – 6 p.m. – on which nominations may be submitted to the Federal Returning Officer for lists for one Land and joint lists for all Länder
Fri, 14 March 2014
(72nd day before the election)

  1. Deadline

    1. for withdrawing or modifying a nomination
    2. for remedying defects of the nomination which do not affect its validity

  2. Decision of the Federal Electoral Committee on the admission

    1. of the joint list for all Länder
    2. of the lists for individual Länder

  3. Earliest date for issuing polling cards
Tue, 18 March 2014
(68th day before the election)

Last day for

  1. lodging a complaint with the Federal Electoral Committee

    about its decision to reject a nomination wholly or in part (Section 14 subsection (4) of the European Elections Act – EWG)

  2. filing an objection with the Federal Constitutional Court

    against the decision of the Federal Electoral Committee to reject a nomination in the absence of the right to submit such nominations pursuant to Section 8 subsection (1) EWG (Section 14 subsection (4a) EWG). The decision of the Federal Electoral Committee is suspended until the Federal Constitutional Court has taken its decision (until the end of the 52nd day before the election at the latest).
Thu, 3 April 2014
(52nd day before the election)

Last day for a decision to be taken

  1. by the Federal Electoral Committee about the above complaint pursuant to letter (a)
  2. by the Federal Constitutional Court about the above objection pursuant to letter (b)
Mon, 7 April 2014
(48th day before the election)

Last day for a public announcement on

  1. the lists admitted for individual Länder
  2. the joint lists admitted for all Länder

by the Federal Returning Officer
Sun, 20 April 2014
(35th day before the election)		 Reference date: all persons eligible to vote who are registered at the registration office on that very day are entered in the register of voters
Sun, 4 May 2014
(21st day before the election)		 Last day
  1. for notifying the persons eligible to vote about their having been entered in the register of voters
  2. on which persons entitled to vote who are entered only upon application (German citizens abroad) may file an application for entry in the register of voters (Annex 2 of the European Electoral Regulations – EuWO)
  3. on which Union citizens entitled to vote may file an application for entry in the register of voters (Annex 2A EuWO)
  4. on which Union citizens not wishing to be listed in the register of voters may file an application (Annex 2C EuWO)
Mon, 5 May to
Fri, 9 May 2014
(20th to 16th day before the election)		 Opportunity to inspect the register of voters and object on account of incorrectness or incompleteness of the voters’ register
Thu, 15 May 2014
(10th Tag day before the election)		 Last day for delivering decisions on objections against the correctness of the voters’ register
Sat, 17 May 2014
(8th day before the election)		 Last day for filing a complaint with the district returning officer (in towns not attached to an administrative district with the town returning officer) about the decision taken by the local authority on objections against the correctness of the voters’ registers; the complaint has to be lodged with the local authority
Mon, 19 May 2014
(6th day before the election)		 Deadline for the local authority for releasing information on the beginning and end of voting hours, on polling districts, polling stations, ballot papers and the election procedure
Wed, 21 May 2014
(4th day before the election)		 Last day for a decision to be taken by the district returning officer or town returning officer on complaints about a local authority’s decision on objections brought forward against the voters’ register
Fri, 23 May 2014
(2nd day before the election)		 Last day – 6 p.m. – on which polling cards can be applied for
Sun, 25 May 2014
Election day
  1. Votes may generally be cast from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  2. Until 3 p.m.: applications may be filed for polling cards to be issued in special cases (Section 24 subsection (2) EuWO and in the case of a sudden illness which has been proven)
  3. 6 p.m.: latest point in time for postal ballot papers to be received in time by the competent authority
  4. After 6 p.m.: the provisional election result is determined and established
  5. The Federal Returning Officer officially announces the provisional election result for Germany (only after voting hours are over in the EU Member State whose voters are the last to cast their votes)
From Mon, 26 May 2014
(1st day after the election)

  1. The final result is determined and established by the district and town electoral committees in the districts and in the towns not attached to an administrative district in public session

  2. The final result is determined and established by the Land electoral committee in each Land in public session

  3. The final result in the electoral area is established and the candidates elected are determined by the Federal Electoral Committee in public session

  4. Those elected are notified by the Federal Returning Officer

  5. Public announcements are made of the

    • final election result in the Land by the Land returning officer
    • final election result for the electoral area, the distribution of seats among the individual nominations to be considered and the candidates elected in the electoral area by the Federal Returning Officer
Tue, 1 July 2014
(37th day after the election)		 With the opening of the first constituent session of the European Parliament, elected candidates attain membership of the European Parliament after the final election result has been established
Fri, 25 Jul 2014
(2 months after the election)		 Last day on which any person entitled to vote, the Land returning officers, the Federal Returning Officer and the President of the German Bundestag may file objections against the validity of the election with the German Bundestag