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First instance body dealing with electoral disputes

Germany

Germany

Answer
Legislature
Source

Constitution (Grundgesetz),(published 1949-05-23, last amended 2012-07-11), http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/BJNR000010949.html

English link (not updatedversion): http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html#p0254

 

Art 41 

(1) Die Wahlpr?fung ist Sache des Bundestages. Erentscheidet auch, ob ein Abgeordneter des Bundestages die Mitgliedschaftverloren hat.

[...]

 

Law on the Scrutiny of Elections(Wahlpr?fungsgesetz), (published 1951-03-12, last amended 2012-07-12), http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/downloads/rechtsgrundlagen/wahlpruefungsgesetz_engl.pdf

 

Section 3

(1) The decision of the Bundestagshall be prepared by the Election Scrutiny Board.

(2) The Election Scrutiny Boardshall consist of nine ordinary members, nine deputies and one each permanentadvisory member of the parliamentary parties that are not represented in it byordinary members. The Bundestag may elect an additional advisory member fromthe midst of an association of members of the Bundestag that, according to theterms of reference of the Bundestag, shall be recognized as a parliamentarygroup. The Election Scrutiny Board shall be elected by the Bundestag for theduration of the legislative term.

[…]

 

Section 12

The decision must be passed tothe Bundestag as a motion of the Election Scrutiny Board and be distributedamong all Members of Parliament not later than three days before thedeliberation in the Bundestag. In the deliberation, the motion can besupplemented by verbal comments of the rapporteur.

 

Section 13

(1) The Bundestag shall decide onthe motion of the Board by simple majority. If the Bundestag does not agreewith the motion, it shall be considered remitted to the Board. The Bundestag mayorder the Board to verify certain factual or legal circumstances.

(2) After a renewed finaldecision, the Board must submit a new motion to the Bundestag. This motion canonly be rejected by the acceptance of another motion that complies with theprovisions set forth in Section 11.

(3) The decision of the Bundestagmust be served on the persons involved (Section 6 subsections (2) and (3)) witha statement of rights of address.

 

 

OSCE Needs Assessment Report –Parliamentary Elections 2013, p. 8 http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/103583

 

“Determining the validity of elections lies withthe Bundestag through the parliamentary committee called the Election ScrutinyBoard (Wahlpr?fungsausschuss; ESB). The ESB is appointed by the Bundestag forthe duration of the legislature and delivers decisions based on submittedcomplaints, which are subsequently passed to the Bundestag for adoption.”
Comment

The appeal is investigated by the Election Scrutiny Board, which is a parliamentary committee. However,the entire Bundestag decides on the motions by the Election Scrutiny Board.Hence, it is the Bundestag that is the first instance.

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