All the Germans with the right to vote can challenge the prestige of the electoral results and there are many who do so in every election.

How does the process work?

According to German law, every citizen or group of citizens with the right to vote in Germany has the opportunity to challenge the prestige of the elections.

And after each election, hundreds of such appeals are deposited. A similar right is also recognized for the electoral supervisors of the states, to the federal electoral supervisor, as well as the Bundestag president.

The content of the refugees varies: it may concern, among other things, errors in electoral rolls and ballots, inadequate electoral identification checks, inappropriate stationery for the note of the vote in the polls, errors in counting or even loss .

How does the process work?

The objections to the electoral process must be submitted in writing to the responsible Bundestag committee within two months of the election day. As Bundestag explains on its website, where further details of the procedure are listed, the Commission cannot consider the prestige of the election of its own motion, but only after an appeal.

The procedure is free and the applicant must clearly indicate his objections, quoting as much details as possible. The Commission subsequently examines all applications and decides on each one separately and by completion of the procedure, Bundestag sends a written response to the applicant.

In order to cancel the results of the election, two conditions must be met: First, a infringement of the federal electoral law, the federal electoral code or the German Constitution must be found, and secondly, this mistake has influenced the distribution of seats in Bundest.

The electoral committee

The Commission consists of nine members appointed by parliament parties. The first objections are usually filed from the first Monday after the election, when they are separated on the basis of their content and distributed to the members of the Commission, who are examined.

The committee takes about a year to complete the examination of all appeals. However, some appeals may be answered very directly – such as those not filed with the necessary type and within the prescribed time limit. The Commission examines the applications in closed doors, unless it considers that some oral listening or witness examination is required.

What if the appeal is rejected?

The committee responsible is promoting the results of the investigations and its proposals in Parliament, which also makes the final decision – where it may be decided to repeat an election.

Voters also have the opportunity to challenge the committee’s proposals and address the Federal Constitutional Court. According to official figures, about 200 appeals are deposited in each election. The 1994 elections were, of course, when the Commission received 1,453 applications.

Even unsuccessful appeals can, however, work – in 2012 the applications filed resulted in the revision of electoral law. But to date, a federal level in Germany has never been void.

Curated by: George Passas