Der Bundeswahlleiter

Deferred election

At Bundestag elections, a deferred election shall take place

if an election has not been held in a constituency or a polling district (because of force majeure, for example),
if a constituency candidate dies after the admission of the constituency nomination but before the election.

In the first case, the deferred election shall take place not later than three weeks after the date of the general election, in the second case, it shall take place not later than six weeks after that date.

To date, the provision pertaining to deferred elections have been applied in the following cases:

No.	Election to the	Date of the Bundestag election	Date of the deferred elction	Constituency (polling district, if applicble)	Reason for defering the elction
1	4th electoral period	17 September 1961	1 October 1961	151 Cochem	Death of constituency candidate Fritz Klein (SPD)
2	5th electoral period	19 September 1965	3 October 1965	135 Obertaunuskreis	Death of constituency candidate Erich Henz (AUD) 1)
3		19 September 1965	3 October 1965	236 Schweinfurt	Death of constituency candidate Ernst Meier(DFU) 2)
4	11th electoral period	25 January 1987	1 February 1987	141 Groß-Gerau (polling district no. 5 (Okrifteler Straße of the city of Mörfelden Walldorff))	Destruction of the ballot box on election day at 5:45 pm by a Molotov cocktail
5	15th electoral period	22 September 2002	22 September 2002	295 Sigmaringen	Death of constituency candidate Dietmar Schlee (CDU)
6		22 September 2002	22 September 2002	230 Passau	Death of constituency candidate Maic-Roland Muth (PDS)
7	16th electoral period	18 September 2005	2 October 2005	160 Dresden (I)	Death of constituency candidate Kerstin Lorenz (NPD)

1) Aktionsgemeinschaft Unabhängiger Deutscher (AUD).
2) Deutsche Friedens-Union (DFU).
Source: Datenbuch zur Geschichte des Deutschen Bundestages-

At European elections, a deferred election shall take place

if an election has not been held in a constituency.

The deferred election shall take place not later than three weeks after the date of the general election.

The date of the deferred election shall be determined by the Land returning officer. A deferred election in Bundestag and European elections shall be subject to the same regulations and shall take place on the same bases as the general election.

Legal bases
Bundestag election : Section 43 of the Federal Elections Act (BWG), Section 82 of the Federal Electoral Regulations (BWO)
European election: Section 4 of the European Elections Act (EuWG) in conjunction with Section 43 of the Federal Elections Act (BWG), Section 75 of the European Electoral Regulations (EuWO)

Last update: December 2009