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The Federal Returning Officer
Article The constitution
The president of the Federal Statistical Office is responsible for ensuring that nationwide elections are conducted properly.
The European Elections Act and the European Electoral Regulations govern the procedure for voting in the 10th European Parliament elections in the Federal Republic of Germany. The entire procedure is supervised and managed by the electoral bodies provided for by the Federal Elections Act. For the entire electoral area, these bodies are the Federal Returning Officer and the Federal Electoral Committee. Like the other electoral bodies, the Federal Returning Officer is not bound by instructions in performing her tasks but must abide by the relevant legal provisions.
Preparing for elections
The main task of the Federal Returning Officer is ensuring that elections are carried out properly and on the date that has been set by law. This task starts with the preparation of an election and continues through the publication of the final election results. The Federal Returning Officer performs important functions of coordination and supervision. For example, she is responsible for appointing the members of the Federal Electoral Committee. She also receives and examines the nominations for the European elections. If she finds any faults with the nomination, she will immediately inform the spokesperson for the nomination and ask that person to remedy the faults in a timely fashion. The Federal Electoral Committee decides whether to approve the nominations 72 days before the election. For the Committee to make its decision, the Federal Returning Officer presents to the Committee all the nominations received and reports on the results of her examination. After the Federal Electoral Committee makes its decision, the Federal Returning Officer announces and then publishes the decision.
Part of an EU network
The office of the Federal Returning Officer is also the central office for sharing information with other European Union member states about the voting and candidacy of Germans who live in other EU member states and of citizens of other EU countries who live in Germany. The Federal Returning Officer also checks to make sure that Germans living abroad are not entered in more than one voters’ register, thereby preventing them from voting twice.
During the election
After the polls have closed, the Federal Returning Officer compiles and publishes a preliminary result for the electoral area based on the initial reports from the returning officers of the federal states. The final election results are determined later using the records of the electoral committees of the federal states, districts and municipalities. Based on the report of the Federal Returning Officer, the Federal Electoral Committee determines the overall election results. The Federal Returning Officer then publishes the final election results for the electoral area and informs the candidates whom the Federal Electoral Committee has deemed elected. The Federal Returning Officer is also responsible for determining which substitute candidates on the lists of political parties will enter the European Parliament.
