In accordance with Section 18 of the Federal Elections Act (BWG), nominations of candidates may be submitted
1) by political parties
and, pursuant to Section 20 of the Federal Elections Act,
2) by persons eligible to vote (individual candidates).
Land lists may be submitted by political parties only (Section 27 of the Federal Elections Act).
Parties which have not been continuously represented by at least five representatives in the German Bundestag or in a Landtag (Land parliament) since the last election on the basis of their own nominations may only submit nominations as parties (constituency nominations or Land lists) if they have notified the Federal Returning Officer in writing of their intended participation in the election not later than the 90th day before the poll and have been recognized as parties by the Federal Electoral Committee not later than the 77th day before the poll (Section 18 paragraphs (2) to (4) of the Federal Elections Act).
For information on the party status please refer to.
Further details are contained in Sections18 to 29 of the Federal Elections Act in conjunction with Sections 32 to 44 of the Federal Electoral Regulations (BWO).
Such notification must expressly include the name of the party as laid down in the statutes and its short form. It has to be signed personally and by hand by at least three members of the national executive committee, including the chairman or his/her deputy, and presented to the Federal Returning Officer in the original. If a party does not have a national executive committee, the executive committee of the party's highest-level organization shall take the place of the national executive committee. Proof that the executive committee has been duly appointed in accordance with the statutes must be enclosed, which has to be signed personally and by hand by the persons authorised to do so in the statutes. The party's statutes and program have to be presented as well (Section 18 (2) of the Federal Elections Act).
If the Federal Electoral Committee recognises an association as a political party for the following Bundestag election, the latter may participate in the Bundestag election with
its own constituency nominations in the constituencies
and
its own Land nominations (Land lists) in the Länder.
A party may submit only one constituency nomination for each constituency and only one Land list for each Land (Section 18 paragraph (5) of the Federal Elections Act).
If the Federal Electoral Committee refuses to recognise the party status of an association, the association may participate as a “voter group”, as it is called, in the elections in accordance with Section 18 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Section 20 paragraph (3) of the Federal Elections Act only with its own constituency nominations (see c) below) in the constituencies. Election regulations provide that only political parties may set up Land lists.
Pursuant to Section 19 of the Federal Elections Act, constituency nominations have to be submitted in writing to the constituency returning officer and Land lists to the Land returning officer not later than 6 p.m. on the 66th day before the poll.
As regards constituency nominations, the candidates and the delegates for the delegates’ assemblies may be elected only by the party members entitled to vote in the constituency concerned. Constituency nominations have to be established and delegates for the delegates’ assemblies elected by secret ballot (Section 21 paragraph (3) of the Federal Elections Act). Every person attending the assembly who is eligible to vote there is entitled to submit proposals. At the meeting, candidates must be given the opportunity to duly introduce themselves and present their programs.
Nomination of the candidates to the Bundestag election may start no earlier than 32 months after the beginning of the legislative term of the German Bundestag (19 June 2008 for the 2009 Bundestag Election). The delegates for the delegates' assemblies may be elected no earlier than 29 months after the beginning of the legislative term (19 March 2008 for the 2009 Bundestag Election.
The same conditions apply to the establishment of Land lists.
A person may only be named as a candidate of a party if he or she is not a member of another party (Section 21 paragraph (1) and Section 27 paragraph (5) of the Federal Elections Act).
Pursuant to Section 20 of the Federal Elections Act, constituency nominations must bear the personal and handwritten signatures of at least 200 persons eligible to vote in the constituency (Annex 14 to Section 34 paragraph (4) of the Federal Electoral Regulations). In accordance with Section 27 of the Federal Elections Act, a Land list must bear the personal and handwritten signatures of one per thousand of the persons eligible to vote in the Land at the last Bundestag election, but of not more than 2,000 persons eligible to vote (Annex 21 to Section 39 paragraph (3) of the Federal Electoral Regulations).
Forms for submitting constituency nominations are available from the constituency returning officer responsible, forms for submitting Land lists from the respective Land returning officer. The same applies to the forms for supporting signatures and other forms required to submit nominations.
An address list of the Land returning officers is available at is available at.
The address list of the constituency returning officers will be provided on the website of the Federal Returning Officer in spring 2009.
Pursuant to Section 18 (4) of the Party Law, political parties are entitled to state funds only after they have achieved a specified (minimum) success in the elections. The German Bundestag is responsible for determining the amounts to be paid to the political parties concerned. More detailed information on this subject is provided on the website of the German Bundestag at http://www.bundestag.de/bic/finanz/index.html .
The Federal Elections Act does not contain any provisions for the nomination of individual candidates, i.e. candidates who are not party candidates but have been proposed by single voters or groups of voters. Assemblies or secret ballots are not required in that case. It is sufficient to name a candidate and indicate a code word (to be submitted on a specific form, Annex 13 to Section 34 paragraph (1) of the Federal Electoral Regulations) and to provide 200 personal and handwritten supporting signatures of persons entitled to vote in the constituency on individual forms (Annex 14 to Section 34 paragraph (4) of the Federal Electoral Regulations).
The constituency nominations of individual candidates have to be submitted in writing to the constituency returning officer responsible not later than 6 p.m. on the 66th day before the election (Section 19 of the Federal Elections Act). Individual candidates may stand for election in any constituency in Germany without having to have a place of residence there. However, the persons furnishing the supporting signatures have to be entitled to vote in the constituency for which the constituency nomination of the individual candidate is to be submitted (Section 34 paragraph (4) No. 3 of the Federal Electoral Regulations). The forms required and further information may be obtained from the constituency returning officer responsible for the constituency in question. The address list will be available on the website of the Federal Returning Officer in spring 2009.
The description of the constituencies, last amended by the notification on the delimitation of constituencies for the elections to the German Bundestag of 18 March 2008 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 316) is supplied at http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de on the start page under the date of 19 March 2008.
State funds for individual candidates are paid in accordance with Section 49 b of the Federal Elections Act. Provided that the candidate has obtained at least ten per cent of the valid first votes cast in a constituency, he/she will receive EUR 2.80 per valid vote. Within two months after the constituent assembly of the German Bundestag, the candidate has to apply in writing to the President of the German Bundestag for state funds to be determined and paid. The legislator does not provide for payments to be made before elections to candidates who have not been proposed by political parties. Under certain circumstances, expenditures may also be tax-deductible. Please contact your local tax office in this matter.
©2012 The Federal Returning Officer