Press release no. 01/2014 of 11. Februar 2014

Information for Germans living abroad

WIESBADEN – As a rule, persons entitled to vote may only participate in the election of members of the European Parliament from the Federal Republic of Germany to be held on 25 May 2014 if they have been entered in a voters’ register in Germany. The Federal Returning Officer reports that Germans who live outside the Federal Republic of Germany and do not have a registered abode in the country are only entered in a voters’ register if they file a formal application for entry and if certain conditions are fulfilled. Please follow the link below for the relevant application form on the homepage of the Federal Returning Officer www.bundeswahlleiter.de.

Printed application forms will presumably by available from mid-February 2014

from the diplomatic and full-time consular missions of the Federal Republic of Germany,
from the town or district returning officers in the Federal Republic of Germany, and
from the Federal Returning Officer at the following postal address:

Bundeswahlleiter
Statistisches Bundesamt
Zweigstelle Bonn
Postfach 17 03 77
53029 Bonn
Germany

or the following mail address: antrag@bundeswahlleiter.de.

Application forms may be ordered also for family members, friends or colleagues. Companies and associations may order the number of forms needed for all their staff members abroad.

The application for entry in the voters’ register has to bear the applicant’s personal handwritten signature; the original must be submitted to the competent municipality. The application must not be submitted by e-mail or fax. It has to be received by the competent municipality in Germany by the 21^st day before the election (4 May 2014) at the latest. This period cannot be extended. Therefore, the completed application forms should be sent to the municipality as early as possible.

On the website of the Federal Returning Officer you will find detailed information on the right to vote of

Germans who have an abode in one of the other 27 member states of the European Union,
Germans who have an abode in a country outside the European Union,
Germans who have an abode in Germany but are temporarily staying abroad.

For further information:
Office of the Federal Returning Officer
tel: +49 611 75-4863
www.bundeswahlleiter.de/contact

EU member states besides Germany:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.