At the first parliamentary election held in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War, the “Electoral Act regarding the first Bundestag and the first Federal Convention of the Federal Republic of Germany“ of 15 June 1949 provided for constituency and Land returning officers, but not for the function of federal returning officer. As a matter of fact, the Electoral Act drafted by the Parliamentary Council in the first half of 1949 had included that function, but the Act was modified by the Conference of Minister-Presidents so that the tasks performed by the federal retuning officer at later elections were shared.
The Land returning officers were responsible for holding the first election in the Federal Republic of Germany; the chairperson of the Conference of Minister-Presidents was entrusted with announcing the official election result.
A body of Land retuning officers was established, its chairperson being the Land returning officer of the Land whose Minister-President was in the chair of the Conference of Minister-Presidents at that time.
In the case of the first Bundestag Election of 1949, the Minister-President of Hessen, Christian Stock (SPD), was chairman. So he can be regarded as the Retuning Officer of the first election to the German Bundestag on 14 August 1949.
