09/17/2002   English German

  Edition # 39  
San Francisco, 09-17-2002


German Federal Election: Voting from Abroad

Angelika With anticipation, we here in the U.S. follow the German election campaign. We smirk as we observe the Americanization of the campaign: televised debates, a German newspaper suggesting which party the reader should vote for – something that is usually only seen in the USA. It's remarkable how unquestioningly such American traditions are adopted in Germany.

I dare to claim: Germany is not America. Firstly, American presidential elections are about individuals. In Germany, I thought it was more about the programs of the individual parties (please don't take away my illusions). And the American televised debates between presidential candidates carry such weight here because, for the majority of Americans, it's their sole source of information. Thus, the televised debates often determine who ultimately becomes president.

But I actually wanted to report something entirely different: how Germans living abroad can cast their vote in the federal elections. During the last federal election in 1998, in my youthful naivety, I believed that I could simply go to the German embassy in San Francisco to pick up my postal voting documents. I was wrong. First, I had to submit an application to the city where I was last registered in Germany (which was Munich) to be included in the electoral register. In 1998, I was promptly late. However, this time, I was as vigilant as a fox. Thanks to the blessings of the Internet, I was able to obtain the application for registration in the electoral register on the website of the Federal Statistical Office, which I promptly sent to Munich. Approximately four weeks before the election, my postal voting documents actually arrived in San Francisco.

Lalala, I've already voted and fervently hope that my ballot made it safely across the pond. By the way, Germans living abroad can only participate in the federal election (and, if I'm correctly informed, in the European Parliament election). And here, for all those who want to know exactly (I love bureaucratic language): "Eligible to vote are Germans within the meaning of the Basic Law, who have reached the age of 18 and have lived continuously within the current borders of Germany for at least three months after May 23, 1949. Germans who live in a member state of the Council of Europe are eligible to vote indefinitely. For a period of 25 years after leaving the Federal territory, Germans living in any other foreign country are eligible to vote. It is important to be registered in the electoral register in time (up to the 21st day before the election)."

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