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Article 76
 

Establishment and Declaration of the Election Result in the Constituency

(1) The District Returning Officer shall examine the election records of the Electoral Boards for completeness and due form. On the basis of the election records, he or she shall compile the final result of the election in the constituency and of the election by Land list, recording the result by polling districts and Postal Ballot Boards in accordance with the specimen at Annex 30. The District Returning Officer shall compile subtotals for the communes and districts and, in the event of an order pursuant to Article 8 (3) of the Law, for the postal ballot results also. If doubts arise about the proper conduct of the election on account of the election record or for any other reasons, the District Returning Officer shall resolve them wherever possible.

(2) After the report by the District Returning Officer, the District Electoral Committee shall ascertain the election result for the constituency and shall declare

1. the number persons eligible to vote,

2. the number of actual voters,

3. the numbers of valid and invalid first votes,

4. the numbers of valid and invalid second votes,

5. the numbers of valid first votes cast for each candidate,

6. the numbers of valid second votes cast for each Land list.

The District Electoral Committee is authorized to correct figures calculated by the Electoral Board and the erroneous assignment of valid votes as well as to take diverging decisions on the validity of votes cast. It shall make a note in the election record of any unresolved doubts.

(3) The District Electoral Committee shall also declare which candidate is duly elected for the constituency.

(4) If, in the constituency election, the candidate named in any other constituency nomination (Article 20 (3) of the Law) or, in the Land list election, the candidate of a party without an approved Land list in the Land in question has been elected, the District Returning Officer shall call in from each local authority the ballot papers on which a vote has been cast for that candidate and shall add to them the ballot papers received in the postal ballot as well as those bearing votes for that candidate that are appended to the election record. The District Electoral Committee shall declare how many second votes are to be disregarded pursuant to Article 6 (1), sentence 2 of the Law and from which Land lists they are to be deducted.

(5) Following declaration, the District Returning Officer shall announce the election result orally, stating the details specified in Paragraph 2, sentence 1 as well as in Paragraphs 3 and 4.

(6) The record of the meeting (Article 5 (7)) shall be drawn up in accordance with the specimen at Annex 32. The record and the appended compilation of the election result in accordance with the specimen at Annex 30 shall be signed by all members of the District Electoral Committee who attended the meeting.

(7) Following the oral announcement of the final election result, the District Returning Officer shall inform the elected candidate by means of a served notice (Article 87) and advise him or her of the provisions of Article 45 of the Law.

(8) The District Returning Officer shall forward a copy of the record of the meeting and the accompanying compilation to the Land Returning Officer and the Federal Returning Officer by the quickest means.

(9) The District Returning Officer shall inform the Land Returning Officer, the Federal Returning Officer and the President of the German Bundestag immediately upon expiration of the deadline specified in Article 41 (2) of the Law of the date on which the declaration of acceptance by the elected candidate was received or whether the candidate refused election. In the case specified in Article 45, sentence 2 of the Law, the District Returning Officer shall intimate the date on which notice was served.