Elections in Germany

Violence and intimidation by the Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel and Der Stahlhelm had been underway for months against trade-unionists, communists, social democrats, and even centre-right Catholics.

[2] On 27 February, just prior to the election, the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended freedom of the press and most civil liberties.

50000 members of the Hilfspolizei (auxiliary Nazi police) "monitored" polling places on election day to further intimidate voters.

They all took the form of a one-question referendum, asking voters to approve a predetermined list of candidates composed exclusively of Nazis and nominally independent "guests" of the party.

Since 1990, and including the results of the most recent federal election in 2021, just six main political parties have managed to secure representation in the Bundestag (counting the CDU and CSU as one, and excluding recognised minority group parties such as the SSW which are exempted in federal law from the 5% threshold that is normally required to be breached in order to win party-list seats).

A new electoral law was enacted in late 2011, but declared unconstitutional once again by the Federal Constitutional Court upon lawsuits from the opposition parties and a group of some 4,000 private citizens.

In general they are conducted according to some form of party-list proportional representation, either the same as the federal system or some simplified version.

The 18 March 1990 election were the first free ones held in the GDR, producing a government whose major mandate was to negotiate an end to itself and its state.

Polling places were under surveillance by the state security apparatuses and the ruling party, the SED, presented voters with a slate of proposed candidates.

Entering a voting booth was considered suspicious and was noted by the state security apparatuses, which could lead to consequences later for the voter.

On top of this, the government engaged in electoral fraud and commonly falsified both results and voter turnout percentages, even as late as the May 1989 municipal elections.

Such local elections are conducted for representatives in districts, cities, towns, villages and various other administrative regional organizations.

While such polls are not legally binding in most cases, their results have considerable influence on local political decisions.

Foreign EU citizens can vote in elections on district and municipal level in Germany, after the German states adapted their regulations between 1995 and 1998.