Date
The date of the next German federal election is governed by the constitution (the Basic Law) and the Federal Election Law (Bundeswahlgesetz).
Article 39 of the Basic Law states that the Bundestag shall be elected between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of the legislative period. As the 17th Bundestag convened on 27 October 2009, the next election will be scheduled between 27 August and 27 October 2013. As the Federal Election Law states that the election day must be a Sunday or public holiday, the dates of 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 September and 3 (Day of German Unity), 6, 13, 20 or 27 October would be within the scope of the Basic Law and election law.
To avoid school holidays, a date in late September is usually chosen; this would have made 15 or 22 September 2013 the most likely dates. Indeed, the Federal President ordered 22 September 2013 to be the election day, upon the recommendation of the federal government.
The Basic Law provides for three possibilities to shorten or prolong the legislative period, and therefore move election day, which have rarely or never been used.
In case of an imminent or ongoing attack on Germany the Federal President is to declare the Case of Defence (article 115a of the Basic Law). In this case, the legislative period ends six months after the end of the Case of Defence (article 115h).
The more probable cases of shortening the legislative period are provided for in articles 63 and 68 of the Basic Law. The former states that the Federal President may (or may not) dissolve the Bundestag if during a vacancy in the office of Federal Chancellor the Bundestag fails to elect a new Chancellor with a majority of votes within fourteen days after the Federal President proposing a new Chancellor. The latter article allows the Federal Chancellor to ask the Federal President to dissolve the Bundestag after the Chancellor has lost a vote of confidence in the Bundestag. The President is once again free to choose whether to dissolve the Bundestag or not.
Of these three possibilities of changing the legislative period of a Bundestag, only the dissolution according to article 68 has been used in practice (1972, 1983 and 2005).
In case of a dissolution the snap election must take place within sixty days. During a "state of defence" the dissolution of the Bundestag is not possible, as per Article 115h of the Basic Law.
Read more about this topic: Next German Federal Election
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