Electoral system of Germany

The German Federal Election System regulates the election of the members of the national parliament, called Bundestag. According to the principles governing the elections laws, set down in Art. 38 of German Basic Law, elections are to be universal, direct, free, equal and secret. Furthermore, the German Basic Law stipulates that Bundestag elections are to take place every four years and that one can vote, and be elected, upon reaching the age of 18. All other stipulations for the federal elections are regulated by the Federal Electoral Act. Elections always take place on a Sunday. Mail votes are possible upon application.

Germans elect their members of parliament with two votes. One vote is for a direct candidate, who ought to receive a plurality vote in his election district. The second vote (considered as more important) is to elect a party list in each province as established by its respective party caucus. Half of the Bundestag is then filled with candidates that won their electoral districts by the first votes and the other half by candidates from the party lists according roughly to the proportion the parties receive from the second votes according to a complex mathematical formula. Common practice is that direct candidates are also placed on the electoral lists at higher rankings as a fall-back if they do not win their districts.

According to Article 38, §1 of the German constitution, “the delegates of the German Parliament (Bundestag) […] are elected in a general, direct, free, equal and secret vote.” These five principles of suffrage are fundamental rights: Any violation of the law can be brought up to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in form of a constitutional complaint.

An election is general, if basically every citizen can take part in it: there are no restrictions such as in terms of income, sex, health or any other arbitrary distinctions. But according to the jurisdiction of the Federal Constitutional Court, the prescription of a minimum voting age is compatible with the commonalty of the election.

The exclusion from the active right to vote is also – within narrow limitations – consistent with the Basic Constitutional Law. The exclusion of the passive right to vote is governed by somewhat less strict regulations.

...
Wikipedia