Federal Electoral Committee

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A federal electoral committee in Germany consists of the federal returning officer , eight eligible voters appointed by him as assessors and, since 2012, also two judges from the Federal Administrative Court ( Section 9 (2) of the Federal Election Act (BWahlG)). When appointing the assessors, the persons proposed by the parties should be taken into account in the order of the second vote results of these parties ( Section 4 (2) Federal Electoral Regulations (BWO)).

The term of office of the Federal Electoral Committee ends at the latest at the end of the electoral term . All meetings of the Federal Electoral Committee take place in public.

The federal electoral committee is one of several electoral bodies charged with preparing and conducting the federal elections.

Duties in federal elections

In the case of federal elections, the Federal Electoral Committee has the following tasks: It ...

  • establishes bindingly for all electoral bodies which parties have been represented in the German Bundestag or a Landtag since their last election on the basis of their own nominations with a minimum of five members. Only such parties can submit nominations without having to provide supporting signatures (cf. § 2, Political Parties Act ) and will be admitted without examination in an upcoming federal election.
  • determines which political groups that have indicated their participation up to the 97th day before the election are to be recognized as parties for the election. A two-thirds majority is required to refuse recognition. In doing so, he is bound by the requirements of the Basic Law, the Federal Election Act and the Political Parties Act on the admission of parties. The decision is made by the Federal Electoral Committee no later than the 79th day before the election. In the event that the Bundestag is dissolved, the deadlines will be set differently by ordinance of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
  • negotiates complaints against the approval or non-approval of a state list by a state electoral committee
  • finally determines how many votes are allocated to the individual state lists, how many seats the individual lists have and which people are elected.

Tasks in European elections

In European elections, the Federal Electoral Committee has the following tasks:

  • Appeals body against decisions of the state election committee and the Federal Returning Officer in the remedial procedure
  • Resolution on the approval of the common lists for all countries; Resolution on the declaration that one or more lists for individual countries should be excluded from the list connection
  • Determination of the total votes cast on the individual nominations, how many seats are allocated to the individual nominations and which applicants have been elected

Committee members

2014 European elections

For the 2014 European elections , the committee was composed as follows:

Assessor:

Judge at the Federal Administrative Court:

Bundestag election 2017

For the 2017 Bundestag elections or the 2019 European elections, the following were or are members of the Federal Electoral Committee:

the assessors nominated by the parties

  • Michael Brenner (proposed by the CDU), committee member for the 2017 Bundestag election and the 2019 European election
  • Hartmut Geil (proposed by the Greens), Chairman of the Federal Arbitration Court of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, committee member for the 2017 federal election and the 2019 European election
  • Petra Kansy (proposed by the CDU), lawyer and city councilor, committee member for the 2017 federal elections and the 2019 European elections
  • Georg Pazderski (proposed by the AfD), committee member for the 2019 European elections
  • Bianca Rabl (proposed by the CSU), CSU country manager, committee member for the 2017 federal elections and the 2019 European elections
  • Kerstin Pohnke (proposed by Die Linke), lawyer, committee member for the 2017 federal election
  • Johannes Risse (proposed by the SPD), Ministerialrat, committee member for the 2017 Bundestag elections and the 2019 European elections
  • Jörg Schindler (proposed by Die Linke), committee member for the 2019 European elections
  • Cornelie Sonntag-Wolgast (proposed by the SPD), committee member for the 2017 Bundestag election and the 2019 European election
  • Birgit Stenzel (proposed by Die Linke), lawyer, committee member for the 2017 federal election

as well as the judges at the Federal Administrative Court

  • Kirsten Kuhlmann, committee member for the 2019 European elections
  • Peter Martini, committee member for the 2017 federal election
  • Jürgen Vormeier, committee member for the 2017 Bundestag election and the 2019 European election

Bundestag election 2021

The federal election committee for the 2021 federal election consists of the following members:

the assessors nominated by the parties:

as well as the judges at the Federal Administrative Court:

criticism

In its report on the observation of the 2009 Bundestag election , the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticized the fact that there were no specific, measurable criteria for the admission of parties. The OSCE saw the lack of opportunities to appeal to a legal authority prior to the election as particularly problematic. She noted that the members of the federal electoral committee are not immune to conflicts of interest as they are also representatives of the parties.

The rejection of various smaller parties met with criticism in the media. For the 2013 Bundestag election, the procedure for party admission was reformed by the “Law to improve legal protection in electoral matters”. A complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court against the non-admission is now possible - even before the election (Section 18 (4a) of the Federal Election Act, BWG). It was also determined that two judges must sit on the election committee.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Electoral Committee. (No longer available online.) German Bundestag, archived from the original on April 18, 2012 ; Retrieved May 15, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Law to improve legal protection in electoral matters ( Federal Law Gazette 2012 I p. 1501 )
  3. ↑ https://www.wahlrecht.de/doku/presse/20140306-1.htm
  4. ↑ bundestag.de: Federal electoral committee continues public session on Friday
  5. ↑ bundestag.de: European elections: Federal election committee rejects seven complaints
  6. ↑ https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/info/presse/mitteilungen/bundestagswahl-2021/05_21_bwa-konstitution.html
  7. ^ OSCE report on the 2009 Bundestag election, December 14, 2009, p. 15f, p. 23
  8. ↑ Why the election supervisor's premiere turned into a farce , in Spiegel online , August 7, 2009
  9. ↑ Party law expert criticizes the Federal Election Committee , in Spiegel online, August 8, 2009

Web links

Wiktionary: Federal Electoral Committee  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations