The Federal Returning Officer and her responsibilities
The Federal Returning Officer and her deputy are appointed for an indefinite period of time by the Federal Minister of the Interior. In view of the duties pertaining to the post and the technical means available, appointing the President of the Federal Statistical Office Federal Returning Officer has proved to be an advantage.
Elections to the German Bundestag are held in accordance with a specific procedure laid down in the Federal Elections Act and the Federal Electoral Regulations. It includes the preparation of the election, the poll itself, the establishment of the election result and the attainment of Bundestag membership. The entire procedure is supervised and managed by the electoral bodies provided for by the Federal Elections Act. These are no public authorities or agencies of the Federation but bodies of societal self-organisation not bound by instructions.
Electoral bodies
The electoral bodies entrusted with preparing and conducting Bundestag elections are
- the Federal Returning Officer and the Federal Electoral Committee, which are responsible for the entire electoral area,
- a Land returning officer and a Land electoral committee per Land,
- a constituency returning officer and a constituency electoral committee per constituency,
- an electoral officer and an electoral board per polling district and
- at least one electoral officer and one electoral board per constituency to establish the result of the postal ballot.
Not bound by instructions
Like the other electoral bodies, the Federal Returning Officer is not bound by instructions in performing her tasks but has to observe the relevant legal provisions. She does not have the authority to issue instructions to the other electoral bodies. The principle is that the electoral committees and electoral boards formed from members of the electorate are to manage and control the election themselves in the decisive stages of the election procedure. They are a kind of “self-governing bodies” of the electorate and may therefore be subject only to an electoral scrutiny procedure. The work of the electoral committees is essentially supervised by the general public as all their decisions are taken in public meetings and afterwards announced publicly by the returning officers.
Responsibilities
The main responsibilities of the Federal Returning Officer are:
The main task of the Federal Returning Officer is supervising the proper conduct of the election while observing the deadlines laid down by law, from the preparation phase to the publication of the final election results. In this regard, he has important coordination and control functions, which mainly are exercised in meetings with the Land returning officers held to discuss and clarify legal and organisational issues, but also in direct contact with the constituency returning officers, especially when difficult questions or problems arise. The cooperation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community which is responsible for the federal electoral law, is also close.
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By virtue of law, the Federal Returning Officer is the chairperson of the Federal Electoral Committee. Eight people entitled to vote who have been proposed by the parties are appointed to the Federal Electoral Committee as members by the Federal Returning Officer as well as two judges of the Federal Administrative Court suggested by the Court’s President.
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In accordance with Section 18 (2) of the Federal Elections Act, the Federal Returning Officer accepts notices of participation in the election from parties which have not been continuously represented by at least five deputies in the German Bundestag or a Land parliament since the last election to that assembly on the basis of nominations made by the party itself, she checks these notices without delay. She presents the notices of participation to the Federal Electoral Committee and reports on the result of her pre-examination.
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The Federal Electoral Committee ascertains
- which parties have been continuously represented by at least five deputies in the German Bundestag or in a Land parliament since the last election to the relevant assembly on the basis of nominations made by the party itself and
- which associations have to be recognised as parties for the forthcoming election.
The Federal Returning Officer announces the decisions of the Federal Electoral Committee first orally and then publicly.
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Before each Bundestag election, Germans living abroad who do not have a place of residence in Germany must apply anew for entry into the voters’ register of the municipality where they last lived. To ensure that Germans living abroad have not been registered more than once, the Federal Returning Officer compares the information submitted by the municipalities on entries they have made.
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As laid down in the Federal Elections Act, constituency candidates may be listed in only one constituency nomination of only one constituency. Candidates running for one party must not be members of another. Land list candidates may be nominated on one Land list of one Land only. The Federal Returning Officer is provided with the data of all candidates and lists them. In this way, double candidatures are identified.
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Once polling is over, the results are reported by the electoral boards to the Federal Returning Officer via the municipal authorities, Land returning officers and constituency returning officers. Still in the night of the election, the Federal Returning Officer compiles and publishes a provisional result for the electoral area containing information on the preliminary distribution of seats in the German Bundestag and the candidates elected according to the provisional result.
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The Federal Returning Officer checks the election records of the constituency and Land electoral committees on the basis of which she prepares the compilation of the final election result. She determines the number of votes won by the individual Land lists and the parties as well as the total number of seats in the German Bundestag and allocates the seats to the parties and their Land lists.
The final result is established by the Federal Electoral Committee approximately 14 days after the election.
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The Federal Returning Officer announces the final election result of the Bundestag election for the entire electoral area after it has been established by the Federal Electoral Committee. She also publishes the result in the Federal Gazette.
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After the Bundestag election, the Federal Returning Officer has to check whether the provisions of the Federal Elections Act and the Federal Electoral Regulations have been adhered to in the election. She may arrange for all electoral documents to be sent to him for that purpose. If required, she may file an objection against the validity of the election in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Scrutiny of Elections.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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Parties are required by the Political Parties Act to submit to the Federal Returning Officer their statutes, their program and the names of the party’s executive committee members and regional branches, stating their duties. The above documents are available for download on this website if they have been provided in electronic form. If not, they are available for inspection at the Office of the Federal Returning Officer. Copies are provided free of charge upon request. This is to ensure that the public has the chance to inform themselves about the objectives and internal organization of the political parties.
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