Roderich Egeler
President of the Federal Statistical Office
Press release March 31, 2009
First meeting of the Federal Electoral Committee on the 2009 election to the European Parliament on 10 April 2009
WIESBADEN – As reported by the Federal Returning Officer, the first meeting of the Federal Electoral Committee on the 2009 election to the European Parliament will be held in Berlin at the German Bundestag, Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus (entrance Adele-Schreiber-Krieger-Str. 1), room 3.101 (Anhörungssaal) on Good Friday, 10 April 2009, at 11 a.m. At that meeting, the Federal Electoral Committee will decide about the admission of parties’ and other political organisations’ joint lists for all Länder.
Where necessary, the Committee will also decide whether individual Land lists should be excluded from combination. Lists for individual Länder of the same organisation entitled to nominate candidates for election (party or other political organisation) are considered as combined (that is the votes cast for those lists are added up for calculating the allocation of seats) unless the organisation entitled to nominate candidates for election has declared in due form and time that one or several lists involved should be excluded from the combination of lists.
The date of the first meeting of the Federal Electoral Committee is legally defined. According to Section 14, paragraph 1 of the European Elections Act, the Federal Electoral Committee decides about the admission of the joint lists for all Länder on the 58th day before election. This is why this year the meeting will take place on Good Friday. Changing the legally defined dates and deadlines for the European Parliament election is ruled out even if the date falls on a Sunday or on a statutory or state-protected holiday (Section 4 of the European Elections Act in connection with Section 54, paragraph 1 of the Federal Elections Act).
The Federal Electoral Committee consists of the Federal Returning Officer as the chairman and eight registered voters appointed by him as assessors (Section 4 of the European Elections Act in connection with Section 9, paragraph 2 of the Federal Elections Act), for every one of whom a deputy is fixed. The Federal Electoral Committee for the 2009 election to the European Parliament consists of the following members:
Chairman: Roderich Egeler, Federal Returning Officer
Deputy: Peter Weigl, Deputy Federal Returning Officer
Assessor: Justitiar Peter Brörmann (CDU)
Deputy: Axel Tantzen (CDU)
Assessor: Hartmut Geil (GRÜNE)
Deputy: Dr. Dorothea Staiger (GRÜNE)
Assessor: Dr. Ruth Kampa (DIE LINKE)
Deputy: Halina Wawzyniak (DIE LINKE)
Assessor: Gabriele Renatus (FDP)
Deputy: Helmut Metzner (FDP)
Assessor: Dr. Johannes Risse (SPD)
Deputy: Thomas Notzke (SPD)
Assessor: Dr. Cornelie Sonntag-Wolgast (SPD)
Deputy: Monika Zeeb (SPD)
Assessor: Lutz Stroppe (CDU)
Deputy: Dr. Jean Angelov (CDU)
Assessor: Markus Zorzi (CSU)
Deputy: Andrea Fiekens (CSU)
The meeting of the Federal Electoral Committee will be open to the public.
Comprehensive information on the 2009 election to the European Parliament is provided on the website of the Federal Returning Officer at www.bundeswahlleiter.de.
For further information please contact:
Karina Schorn,
tel: (+49-611) 75-2317,
contact: www.destatis.de/contact
Important notes:
Anyone interested in watching the meeting of the Federal Electoral Committee must undergo an access control procedure and identify themselves before entering the Bundestag building. Representatives of the media who are not permanently accredited must be accredited before with the press office of the German Bundestag: Deutscher Bundestag, Akkreditierungsstelle, Schiffbauerdamm 17 (3rd floor), 11011 Berlin, tel: (+49-30) 227 – 329 24 or – 329 29. Currently, that accreditation office is open from 6th to 9th of April, only from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Radio and TV representatives are additionally requested to register with the press office of the German Bundestag by 7 April 2009, 10 a.m., tel. (+49-30) 227 – 371 71. Room 3.101 (Anhörungssaal) in the building Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus can be accessed only through the entrance Adele-Schreiber-Krieger-Straße 1.