Certificate of voting rights

In order to participate as a candidate in an election, a certain level of support is required from the population. For this purpose, so-called support signatures of citizens entitled to vote are used, which must be presented in order to be admitted to the election.

In order to participate in an election as a candidate, a certain level of support from the population is required. All electoral laws therefore stipulate that a certain number of supporting signatures from eligible voters must be submitted for nominations by parties, voter associations, voter groups and individual candidates who are not represented by a minimum number of MPs in parliament or the body to be elected in order to be admitted to the election. In the case of a constituency nomination for a state parliamentary election, this is 125 signatures, for a state list 2080 signatures. For local elections, the number of supporting signatures depends on the population of the respective local authority.

Depending on the upcoming election, you should contact the municipal, district, Land or federal returning officer. Please pay attention to the corresponding official announcements inviting the submission of nominations.

Depending on the type of election, the forms for the supporting signatures are provided by the municipal, district, Land or federal returning officer after the election proposal has been drawn up. The supporting signatures with the electoral rights certificates must be attached to the election proposal.

The supporting signatures must be provided personally and by hand on official forms issued by the competent election administrations to the election proposal holders on request. Each person entitled to vote may only support one nomination with his signature.

For each supporter, his right to vote must be confirmed by the municipality responsible for his main residence. As a rule, the certificate of voting rights shall be issued on the same form on which the supporting signature was submitted; It is free of charge.

There are no fees.

Further information on this topic can be found on the website of the Rhineland-Palatinate Land Returning Officer.