Content and Form of Constituency Nominations
(1) The constituency nomination is to be submitted in accordance with the specimen at Annex 13. It must contain
1. the surname, forenames, occupation or status, date of birth and address (main residence) of the candidate,
2. the name of the submitting party and the shortened form of its name if it uses such a form or, in the case of other constituency nominations (Article 20 (3) of the Law), their identifying word.
It shall also contain the names and addresses of the spokesperson and the deputy spokesperson.
(2) Constituency nominations by parties must bear the personal handwritten signatures of at least three members of the executive committee of the Land branch, including that of the chairperson or his or her deputy. If a party has no Land branch or no unified Land organiza-tion in the Land in question, the constituency nominations must be signed in accordance with the sentence 1 by the executive committees of the next lower regional branches (Article 7 (2) of the Law on Political Parties) in whose area the constituency is situated. The signatures of the submitting executive committee shall suffice if it certifies within the period stipulated for submissions that the Land Returning Officer has received a written authority in accordance with the first sentence above from the other participating executive committees.
(3) For other constituency nominations, three signatories of the nomination must sign the constituency nomination themselves (Annex 13). Paragraph 4, nos. 3 and 4 shall apply as appropriate.
(4) If a constituency nomination must be signed by at least two hundred persons in the constituency who are eligible to vote, such signatures shall be submitted on official forms as per Annex 14, the following provisions being observed:
1. The forms shall be supplied free of charge by the District Returning Officer on request. The request must contain the surname, forenames and address (main residence) of the prospective candidate. As the designation of the nominating body which intends to submit the constituency nomination, if that body is a political party, its name, and the shortened form of its name if it uses such a form, must also be entered; other constituency nominations must bear their identifying word. In addition, parties must confirm that their candidate has been selected at an assembly of party members or at a special or general assembly of delegates held in accordance with Article 21 of the Law. The District Returning Officer must record the information specified in sentences 2 and 3 above at the heads of the forms.
2. The persons eligible to vote who sponsor a constituency nomination must affix their personal handwritten signatures to the declaration on the form; beside the signature, the sur-name, forenames, date of birth and address (main residence) of the signatory as well as the date of signature are to be entered. Persons eligible to vote as defined in Article 12 (2), sentence 1, nos. 2 and 3 of the Law are to certify their right to vote by submitting the information specified at Annex 2 and by giving an affirmation in lieu of an oath.
3. For each signatory, certification by the local authority of the commune in whose voters' register he or she is registered shall be entered on the form or drawn up separately to the effect that at the time of signature he or she is eligible to vote in the constituency in question. Separate certificates of enfranchisement are to be appended to the supporting signa-tures by the nominating body on submission of the constituency nomination. Anyone who applies for a certificate of eligibility to vote on another person's behalf must certify that the person concerned sponsors the nomination.
4. A person eligible to vote may sign only one constituency nomination; if anyone signs more than one constituency nomination, their signature shall be invalid on all nominations.
5. Constituency nominations from parties may only be signed after selection of the candidate by an assembly of members or delegates. Previous signatures shall be invalid.
(5) The constituency nomination must be accompanied by 1. the declaration by the nominated candidate, in accordance with the specimen at Annex 15, that he or she shall accept election and has not given his or her consent to nomination as a candidate in any other constituency,
2. certification by the competent local authority of the commune, in accordance with the specimen at Annex 16, that the nominated candidate is eligible for political office,
3. for constituency nominations by parties, a copy of the record documenting the decision taken by the assembly of party members or delegates at which the candidate was elected, as well as, in the event of an objection pursuant to Article 21 (4) of the Law, a copy of the record of the repeated vote, with the affirmations in lieu of an oath prescribed in Article 21 (6) of the Law; the record should be drawn up in accordance with the speci-men at Annex 17 and the affirmation in lieu of an oath given in accordance with the specimen at Annex 18,
4. the requisite number of supporting signatures, together with certificates of eligibility to vote for the signatories (Paragraph 4, nos. 2 and 3) if the constituency nomination must be signed by at least two hundred persons in the constituency who are eligible to vote.
(6) The certificate of eligibility to vote (Paragraph 4 (3)) and the certificate of eligibility for political office (Paragraph 5 (2) shall be issued free of charge. The local authority may only issue the certificate of eligibility to vote to each person eligible to vote once for a constituency nomination; it must not keep any record showing that the certificate issued relates to a particular nomination.
(7) For candidates who have no domicile in the Federal Republic of Germany and are not otherwise habitually resident there, the Federal Minister of the Interior shall issue the certificate of eligibility for political office. It shall be applied for at the diplomatic or fulltime consular mission of the Federal Republic of Germany responsible for the candidate's place of residence or directly, the necessary certificates being submitted.
