Home > 2.1 The competent bodies and their tasks > GERMANY - Federal Elections Act
 
 
 
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Section 9
 

Appointment of Electoral Bodies


(1) The Federal Returning Officer and his Deputy shall be appointed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior; the Land Returning Officers, Constituency Returning Officers and Electoral Officers and their Deputies shall be appointed by the Land Government or the agency designated by it.


(2) The Federal Electoral Committee shall be composed of the Federal Returning Officer as Chairman, eight qualified voters appointed by him as assessors and two judges of the Federal Administrative Court. The other electoral committees shall be composed of the Returning Officer as Chairman and six qualified voters appointed by him as assessors; two judges of the Land’s Higher Administrative Court must also be appointed to each Land electoral committee. The Electoral Boards shall be composed of the Electoral Officer as Chairman, his Deputy and three to seven other qualified voters appointed by the Electoral Officer as assessors; the Land Government or the agency designated by it may order the assessors of the Electoral Board to be appointed by the local authority of the municipality and the assessors of the Electoral Board formed for the establishment of the result of the postal ballot by the Constituency Returning Officer, in the event of an order pursuant to Section 8 subsection (3), by the local authority or district authority alone or in concurrence with the Electoral Officer. Whenever possible, account shall be taken of the parties represented in the polling district when appointing assessors.


(3) Noone may be a member of more than one electoral body. Candidates standing for election, spokespersons for nominations and deputy spokespersons may not be appointed members of an electoral body.


(4) The local authorities are authorised to collect and process personal data of qualified voters for the purpose of appointing them as members of electoral boards. Personal data of qualified voters who are suitable for appointment to election boards may also be used for this purpose for future elections unless the persons concerned object. The persons concerned must be informed that he has the right to object. The following data may be collected: name, first name, date of birth, address, telephone number, number of appointments as a member of an election board and function exercised.


(5) To ensure that an election can be held, the federal authorities, federal public bodies, institutions and foundations, Land, municipality and municipality association authorities and any other public corporate bodies which come under Land supervision are obliged, upon the request of the local authorities, to nominate members of their staff who reside in the area of the district submitting the request for the purpose of their being appointed members of election boards, stating their names, first names, dates of birth and addresses. The authority requested to do so must notify the persons whose data have been passed on and the recipient.