Union citizens’ right to vote in the Federal Republic of Germany at the European Election of 7 June 2009

For information in the 21 official languages of the EU you may refer to the website of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

As in the 1994 European Election and later European elections, citizens of the other member states of the European Union (Union citizens) living in the Federal Republic of Germany may also participate in the European election held on 7 June 2009. Article 19 paragraph 2 of the EU Treaty grants Union citizens the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament also in the member state in which they reside but whose citizenship they do not have. The European Elections Act and the European Electoral Regulations specify the details for the Federal Republic of Germany.

According to the above provisions, every Union citizen entitled to vote may exercise his/her right to vote either in the member state of residence or in the home member state.

However, every person may exercise the right to vote only once and only personally.

Union citizens wishing to elect the members of the European Parliament from their home country are asked to contact the competent authorities in their home country. The diplomatic missions of their home countries will provide further legal and procedural information.

Union citizens wishing to participate in the election of the members of the European Parliament from the Federal Republic of Germany are requested to note the following:

Under the European Elections Act, all citizens of the other member states of the European Union (Union citizens) who have an abode or are otherwise permanently resident in the Federal Republic of Germany have the right to vote, provided that on the day of the election they
1. have reached the age of eighteen years,
2. have had an abode or have otherwise been permanently resident for at least three months in the Federal Republic of Germany or in another member state of the European Union and
3. are not disqualified from voting in the Federal Republic of Germany or the member state of the European Union whose citizenship they hold.

Union citizens who are entitled to vote will ex officio be listed in a voters‘ register by the competent municipality both for the forthcoming and future elections to the European Parliament, if they had applied and were enrolled in a voters‘ register in the Federal Republic of Germany on the occasion of the elections to the European Parliament on 13 June 2004, provided that they are registered with a residents‘ registration office on the 35th day before the election (reference day: 3 May 2009) and had not moved abroad. Like all other persons entitled to vote, the Union citizens will receive notifications from their municipality by 17 May 2009 at the latest, which will also specify the polling station where they may cast their vote on 7 June 2009. Non-German Union citizens who departed abroad and have returned to the Federal Republic of Germany will have to re-apply for entry in a voters' register in Germany.

If a Union citizen is to be listed ex officio in a voters‘ register but wants to exercise his/her right to vote in his/her home country rather than in the Federal Republic of Germany, he/she has to request at the competent municipality in writing and by the 21st day before the election at the latest (17 May 2009) that he/she be not listed in the voters' register. Such request shall be valid for all future elections to the European Parliament, up until the moment the Union citizen might re-apply for entry into a voters' register.

Non-German Union citizens who will not be entered ex officio in a voters’ register (see no. 2) but wish to exercise their right to vote in the 2009 European Election in the Federal Republic of Germany have to file an application for entry in a German voters’ register. The application for entry in the voters’ register for Union citizens has to be filed with the municipality where the Union citizen lives by the 21st day before the election at the latest (17 May 2009) using a specific form. When filing such application, each Union citizen in the Federal Republic of Germany has to submit a formal declaration, stating among others
1. his/her citizenship and address in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany,
2. the local authority or constituency of his/her home member state in whose voters’ register he/she was last registered, if applicable,
3. that he/she is going to exercise the right to vote in the elections to the European Parliament only in the Federal Republic of Germany,
4. that he/she is not disqualified from voting in his/her home member state,
5. that he/she has had an abode or has otherwise been permanently resident for at least three months in the Federal Republic of Germany or in another member state of the European Union on election day (7 June 2009) and
6. that he/she will reach or will have reached the age of eighteen years on election day (7 June 2009).

So please note: Union citizens who were not listed in a voters’ register in the Federal Republic of Germany at the 2004 European Election have to file an application for entry in a voters’ register by 17 May 2009 to participate in the 2009 European Election in Germany. In case of doubt please contact the local authority at your place of residence.

Application forms for entry in the voters‘ register for Union citizens and application forms to be used by Union citizens who do not want to be listed in a voters‘ register will be available from the electoral offices of the municipalities from about February/March 2009. Those application forms may also be downloaded here as pdf files.

The deadline for such applications to be handed in on time at the municipality where the applicant lives is the 21st day before the election, i.e.

17 May 2009.

Apart from casting their votes in the European election, non-German Union citizens living here may also be nominated by parties and other political associations as candidates for the 2009 European Election in the Federal Republic of Germany.