Info
Parties and Candidates
PC001
Registration requirements for parties (Chamber 1)
Question: What are the registration requirements for political parties running for national elections (Chamber 1)?
Answer(s):
a . Signature requirement (specify requirement)
Comments: A party which has not been continuously represented by at least five representatives in the Bundestag or in a Landtag (state parliament) since the last election on the basis of nominations made by the party itself may only submit a nomination as a party if it has announced its intended participation in the election to the Federal Returning Officer in writing not later than the ninetieth day before the election and has been recognized as a party by the Federal Electoral Committee. Such notification must include the name to be used by the party in the election. It must be personally signed by at least three members of the national executive committee, including the chairman or his deputy. If a party does not have a national executive committee, the management committee of the party's principle organization shall function in its place. The party's written statutes and written programme as well as proof that the executive committee has been duly appointed in accordance with the statutes shall accompany the notification.
Constituency nominations of parties must bear the personal and handwritten signatures of the members of the executive committee of the Land branch of the party or, where such Land branches do not exist, the personal and handwritten signatures of the members of the executive committee of the next lower regional branches in whose area the constituency lies. Constituency nominations of the parties specified in Section 18 subsection (2) above must in addition bear the personal and handwritten signatures of at least 200 persons eligible to vote in the constituency; they must be eligible to vote at the
time they sign the nomination and proof of this must be furnished when the nomination is submitted. The requirement to present 200 signatures shall not apply to constituency nominations of parties representing national minorities.
Source: Federal Elections Act, Ch.4, Art. 18 - 20
https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/dam/jcr/4ff317c1-041f-4ba7-bbbf-1e5dc45097b3/bundeswahlgesetz_engl.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
PC003
Registration requirements for candidates (Chamber 1)
Question: What are the legal qualifications to become a candidate at legislative elections (Chamber 1)?
Answer(s):
a . Age b . Citizenship
Comments: A person shall be eligible to stand for election if, on election day, he or she
1. is German as defined in Article 116 paragraph (1) of the Basic Law and
2. has reached the age of eighteen years.
Article 116 Basic Law:
(1) Unless otherwise provided by a law, a German within the meaning of this Basic Law is a person
who possesses German citizenship or who has been admitted to the territory of the German Reich
within the boundaries of 31 December 1937 as a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the
spouse or descendant of such person.
(2) Former German citizens who, between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945, were deprived of their
citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds and their descendants shall, on application, have
their citizenship restored. They shall be deemed never to have been deprived of their citizenship if
they have established their domicile in Germany after 8 May 1945 and have not expressed a contrary
intention.
Source: Federal Elections Act, Art. 15
https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/dam/jcr/4ff317c1-041f-4ba7-bbbf-1e5dc45097b3/bundeswahlgesetz_engl.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
PC008
Independent candidates
Question: Can independent candidates compete in presidential or legislative elections?
Answer(s):
e . In both presidential and legislative elections
Comments:
Source: Constitution, Chapter 3, Art. 38 (2)
Constitution, Chapter 5, Art. 54 (2)
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
PC012
Public funding of parties
Question: Do political parties receive direct/indirect public funding?
Answer(s):
b . Direct c . Indirect
Comments: The parties shall receive funds as a contribution towards the funding of the duties generally incumbent upon them under the Basic Law. The allocation of state funds shall depend on the success a party achieves with the voters in European, Bundestag and Landtag elections, on the sum of its membership and deputy fees and on the amount of money it obtains from donations.
(2) The maximum total volume of state funds which may be paid to all parties each year
shall be 190 million euros (absolute upper limit).
(3) Under the state partial funding program, the parties shall each year receive:
1. 0.70 euro for each valid vote cast for its list or
2. 0.70 euro for each valid vote cast for a party in a constituency or polling district whose list
was not approved in a Land, and
3. 0.38 euro for each euro which it has obtained as bestowals (membership fee, deputy fee
or rightfully obtained donation); in this context, only bestowals up to 3,300 euros per natural
person shall be taken into account.
Notwithstanding Numbers 1 and 2 above, the parties shall receive 0.85 euro for every vote
they obtain up to four million valid votes.
Source: Act on Political Parties, Article 18
https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/dam/jcr/1aedeb82-9067-4321-acce-880ba22ddc28/parteiengesetz.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
PC015
Question: What is the basis of the public funding?
Answer(s):
b . Based on result of previous election e . Other
Comments: The parties shall receive funds as a contribution towards the funding of the duties generally incumbent upon them under the Basic Law. The allocation of state funds shall depend on the success a party achieves with the voters in European, Bundestag and Landtag elections, on the sum of its membership and deputy fees and on the amount of money it obtains from donations.
Source: Act on Political Parties, Article 18
https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/dam/jcr/1aedeb82-9067-4321-acce-880ba22ddc28/parteiengesetz.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
PC017
Question: Are political parties entitled to private funding?
Answer:
a . Yes
Comments: Parties are entitled to accept donations. Donations can be given in cash up to the amount of 1,000 euros.
Source: Political Parties Act, Art. 25
https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/dam/jcr/1aedeb82-9067-4321-acce-880ba22ddc28/parteiengesetz.pdf
Verified: 2021/11/17
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