Eligibility to Vote
(1) All Germans as defined in Article 116 (1) of the Basic Law shall be eligible to vote, provided that, on the day of the election, they
1. have reached the age of 18 years,
2. have had a domicile or have otherwise been permanently resident in the Federal Republic of Germany for at least three months, and
3. are not disqualified from voting under Article 13 of the Federal Electoral Law.
(2) Provided the other conditions are fulfilled, Germans as defined in Article 116 (1) of the Basic Law shall also be eligible to vote if, on the day of election, they are
1. resident as civil servants, soldiers, and other salaried public employees outside the Federal Republic of Germany by order of their employer, and members of such persons' households,
2. resident in the territories of the other member states of the Council of Europe, provided that after 23 May 1949 and prior to their departure, they had a domicile or were otherwise permanently resident for an uninterrupted period of at least three months in the Federal Republic of Germany,
3. resident in other territories outside the Federal Republic of Germany, provided that prior to their departure, they had a domicile or were otherwise permanently resident for an uninterrupted period of at least three months in the Federal Republic of Germany, and that no more than 25 years have elapsed since their departure. The same applies as appropriate to seamen on vessels not flying the German flag, as well as the members of their households.
The period of three months specified in Paragraph (1), no. 2 shall not apply if a person eligible to vote under sentence 1 above returns to the Federal Republic of Germany. For the application of nos. 2 and 3, a previous domicile or residence in the area stipulated in Article 3 of the Unification Treaty must be taken into account.
(3) For the purposes of this Law, a domicile shall be any enclosed space which is used for dwelling or sleeping. Caravans and house-boats, however, shall only be considered domiciles if they are not moved at all or only occasionally.
(4) If persons eligible to vote do not have or have not had a domicile in the Federal Re-public of Germany, a domicile as defined in Paragraph (1), no. 2 or Paragraph (2), nos. 2 and 3 shall be:
1. for seamen and the members of their households, the ship occupied by them if the ship is eligible to fly the Federal Flag under the latest version of the Flag Law (in the version promulgated on 4 July 1990, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1342)
2. for boatmen in inland navigation and the members of their households, the ship occupied by them if the ship is enrolled in a ship's register in the Federal Republic of Germany,
3. for persons serving a term of imprisonment imposed by a court of law as well as for other persons accommodated in an institution or respective institution.
(5) The day on which the domicile is occupied or the residence begins must be included in the calculation to determine the three-month period pursuant to Paragraph (1), no. 1 and Paragraph (2), nos. 2 and 3,
