Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: facts and information for all voters

When is the 2020 local election in Bavaria? When is runoff? Who is entitled to vote? You can find out more and more in the large summary.

When are the 2020 local elections in Bavaria? Dates and dates are fixed

• The next local elections in Bavaria will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2020 .
• The run-off elections will take place two weeks later, on Sunday, March 29, 2020 .
• All results of the local elections in Bavaria can be found on merkur.de *.
• We send you the most important stories from your Merkur.de * region once a week in our free, local newsletter. Register and receive all information about the election on Monday morning at 6 a.m.
  

The Bavarian cabinet has the official date for the 2020 local elections at the beginning of March 2019
decided in Munich , as the Interior Ministry announced. "After careful consideration of all advantages and disadvantages, this day appears to be the most suitable," said Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). Both the local election itself and the date for any necessary run-off elections were outside school holidays.

How often are local elections held in Bavaria?

• Local elections are held in Bavaria every six years .
• The most recent local elections were held on March 16, 2014, and necessary run-off elections for mayor and district elections were held on March 30, 2014.
• The electoral term of the municipal councils *, mayors *, mayors and district councilors * is six years.
• The only exception: If a mayor, mayor or district administrator resigns or dies in office, then unscheduled elections are held. For example, it was in Fürstenfeldbruck: Because of the illness of the mayor Klaus Pleil, a new mayor had to be elected in 2017, whose term of office normally lasts six years (until 2023).

Local election 2020 in Bavaria! - How does local politics actually work?

Who will be elected in the 2020 local elections in Bavaria?

• In the 2020 local elections, the district councils , city councils, market councils and municipal councils are elected for six years in 71 counties and 2056 cities, markets and municipalities.
• In Munich, the district committees (i.e. the district parliaments) are also newly elected *.
• Most of the district councilors, mayors and first mayors are also elected.
• A total of around 39,500 mandate holders will be appointed.

Infographic for the 2020 local elections: how to correctly choose the municipal council, city council and district council

Infographic for the 2020 local elections: How to vote correctly.

© Munich Mercury

You can download and print out our infographic for the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria as a crib sheet for the voting booth as a PDF file.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: how many votes do you have?

• In the 2020 local elections in Bavaria, every voter generally has as many votes on the ballot paper as there are seats on a committee.
• A special feature applies to communities with up to 3,000 inhabitants : Here there can be up to twice as many votes. If there is only one or no election proposal for the municipal council election, the voter has from the outset twice as many votes as municipal council members are to be elected. Sounds confusing, but it is basically simple: how many votes the voter has is on the top of the ballot!
• The seats in the district council * in Bavaria depend on the size of the district. The smallest district days have 50 seats, counties from 150,000 inhabitants have 70 seats.
• The size of the municipal and city councils also fluctuates strongly: only eight seats have the smallest municipal councils (in places with less than 1000 inhabitants), while the largest city councils are in Nuremberg (70 seats) and Munich (80 seats).
• Be careful: you can't count yourself wrong when choosing. For a district day with 70 seats, only 70 votes are to be given. Maximum - less is allowed (even if you give away votes), but not more.

This is how the number of municipal and city councils is determined:

This is how the number of district councils is determined:

Infographic: This is how local politics work in Bavaria

This is how local politics work in Bavaria.

© Munich Mercury

Why are there 2020 polls in the local elections in Bavaria?

The candidates are elected mayor, mayor or district administrator who receive more than half of the votes cast - i.e. the absolute majority. Expressed in numbers: Those who collect more than 50 percent of the votes have won the election.

If there are more than two candidates for one of these offices, an applicant in the first ballot rarely reaches an absolute majority. In this case, the two candidates with the most votes will be put into a runoff two weeks later.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: who is entitled to vote?

• All adult German citizens who have the focus of their life relationships in the community are entitled to vote.
• Unlike the federal and state elections , the 2020 municipal elections in Bavaria also allow all adult EU citizens to vote without a German passport . However, they have to stay at least two months in their Bavarian place of residence with their focus on life relationships.
• Specifically, this means: Turkish citizens can only vote if they have German citizenship. The same applies to Russians or Albanians.
• Romanians, Italians, Spaniards, Greeks and Poles are better off: they are EU citizens and can also vote in local elections. Just like every German who lives in Rome, Madrid, Athens or Warsaw is also allowed to take part in the local elections there.

Who can be elected in the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria?

• Any person eligible to vote (aged 18 and over) who has been living in the municipality or in the district for at least three months can be elected to the office of a municipal council or a district council.
• You cannot be elected if you do not have the eligibility or the ability to hold public office as a result of a German judge's decision or if you are in custody or in preventive detention at the time of the election for an intentional criminal offense.
• Anyone who has lost the active or passive right to vote as a result of moving away, but who returns to the constituency within one year, can be re-elected upon return.

What are the deadlines for the candidate lists?

• The regular deadline for submitting and withdrawing nominations * is Thursday, January 23, 2020, at 6 p.m.
• The election supervisor then checks whether the candidate lists are correct and complete. Defects can still be remedied - within a certain period (Art. 32, Paragraphs 1 and 5).
• The election committee then meets and decides on the validity of the proposed lists. The election supervisor must publish the finally approved lists by February 18, 2020 at the latest.

Can non-party candidates also run in local elections?

Yes. Non-party parties can stand on the list of a party * if they agree. But you can also make your own line-up meeting and an election proposal if you get enough supporters. The deadline for entry in supporter lists ends on February 3, 12:00 p.m. A day later, the election committee decides on the validity of the nominations and list connections.

Is there a five percent hurdle for small parties?

• No. There is no five percent hurdle in the 2020 local elections.
• All candidates come to a municipal or city council if they receive enough votes for a seat.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: What are the tasks of the district administrator?

2020 local elections in Bavaria: How do I fill out the ballot correctly?

Voters will receive between two and four ballots * in the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria:

• a yellow ballot for the election of the (mayor) mayor
• a light green note for the election of the municipal council or city council members
• furthermore (if you do not live in an independent city) a light blue slip for the district election
• as well as a large white ballot paper for the election of the district councilors .

The easiest and simplest is the choice of mayor or district administrator. A cross is sufficient here .

In the election of the municipal or city council as well as that of the district council, each voter generally has as many votes as the committee has members. Depending on the community, you can cast between 8 and 80 votes. In other words, in villages with 8 councilors, you have 8 votes. In Munich with 80 city councilors, 80 votes can be cast.

The district council election has (depending on the size of the district) between 50 and 70 votes.

Accumulate and variegate: This is how you can distribute the votes in the local elections

This is how it would look if Schexing voted: The fictional location, known from the BR cult series "The Emperor of Schexing", serves as an example for our electoral explanation for the 2020 local elections.

Schexing chooses - The fictional location, known from the BR series, serves as an example for our explanation of the election.

© Munich Mercury

There are various options for voting on the ballot paper for the city council or district council:

• The voter can make it easy for him and just tick the list. See point "C" in the graphic: With a list cross, each candidate on the list (with the exception of the deleted candidates) gets one vote. Piling and votes on other lists are calculated separately.
• Many preferred to distribute their votes within an election proposal (the so-called "heaping up" or cumulating ).

This is how accumulation works: If you want to particularly support a candidate, you can give two or at most three votes - in our example Jakob Aschenbrenner, Anni Hummel and Rosemarie Specht are profiteers. Among parties, it is unofficial “sport” to choose so-called heaping kings, i.e. candidates who are heaped up front. But be careful! Four or more votes are not allowed.

• Many voters even "surf" through the lists and distribute their votes to different groups ( election theorists call this variegation).

And this is how the breading works: The so-called breading means that votes can be distributed across different lists - in the example above, our voter decided on the "non-party Schexinger", but he also lets Rosemarie Specht and Anni Hummel of the competing "independents" Citizens' votes.

• Combination: It is also allowed to fully utilize the right to vote, i.e. to check the list, to pile up and to diversify.
• Note the total number of votes! The number of councilors or city councilors is at the top of the ballot and depends on the size of the municipality. Villages with up to 1000 inhabitants have only eight councilors, but a district town like Fürstenfeldbruck, for example, has 40 councilors. Nuremberg has 70 councilors, Munich is the only city in Bavaria with 80 councilors. Anyone who variegated or heaped up must make sure that the total number of votes is not exceeded - otherwise his ballot paper is completely invalid. The assumption that only surplus votes are then somehow withdrawn is wrong.
• What happens if you give too many votes to a candidate? Is the ballot paper completely invalid? Not necessarily! For example, if four votes are mistakenly assigned to a candidate (a maximum of three is allowed), but the total number of votes is not exceeded, the ballot is valid. In this case, only the surplus votes will be lost to the candidate concerned.

Schexing chooses - The fictional location, known from the BR series, serves as an example for our explanation of the election.

© Munich Mercury

• A maximum of three votes per candidate: In smaller communities, the candidate name can appear several times if the groupings or party would not have got the list otherwise. Nevertheless, the person concerned may only receive a maximum of three votes, excess votes are invalid. In our example (see point "B") Anni Hummel only gets three votes, the other three votes were given away by the voters.
• Are there still list connections for the 2020 local elections in Bavaria? No. In previous local elections, parties and groups allied to form links in some places. In February 2018, the Bavarian Landtag redefined municipal electoral law in some respects. The list connections were also abolished.
• Can you also write candidate names on the ballot paper? In two cases it is possible that candidates can also be added by hand, stating their first and last name and job title.
• First of all, if (as is often the case in smaller municipalities) only one candidate for mayor is running; second, if only one election list is given. Of course, it is then also possible to write yourself.

Schexing chooses - The fictional location, known from the BR series, serves as an example for our explanation of the election.

© Munich Mercury

• Can I delete a candidate from the ballot paper? If you do not like a candidate, you can cross his list, but you can delete him or her - in our example (point "E") Georg Hattinger does not get a vote, even though the voter has ticked his list ("Non-party Schexinger"). Attention: Only deletions are not a valid vote.
• What happens if I submit an empty ballot paper? Where there was only one candidate for mayor, it was formerly allowed to submit an empty ballot. This is no longer possible. An empty ballot is always invalid.
• No doodles on the ballot paper! Anyone who (as in our example) declares his love for the candidate on a ballot paper will invalidate his ballot paper. Scribbles have lost nothing there.
• What happens if I miscalculate on the ballot paper? Anyone who prescribes or miscalculates can have a new ballot paper given by the electoral board.

How big must a voting booth be in the local election?

A minimum size is not mandatory. The voting booth should be large enough so that everyone can vote in it without any problems and that the secret of the election is preserved.

Local election 2020 in Bavaria: How postal voting works

Last but not least, the abundance of candidates at the municipal council, city council or district council is reason enough for many citizens to place their crucifixes at home by postal vote. This is not a problem legally, because there are no longer any special reasons for postal voting. The postal ballot papers are no longer counted centrally, but in the respective voting district.

• In the weeks leading up to the local elections and by February 23, 2020 at the latest, the municipalities will send the election notifications by post. All eligible voters will receive this if they have registered their place of residence in the municipality no later than February 9, 2020.
• Anyone who has not received an election notification by February 23, 2020, but thinks they are eligible to vote, should contact the local electoral office as soon as possible. If you want, for example because of a stay abroad, you can apply for postal voting before the election notification comes. Incidentally, the application for postal voting documents is free of charge, and the completed documents can also be returned free of charge.
• Applications for postal voting must be submitted to the municipality at least two days before the municipal election.
• That would be on Friday, March 13, 2020, until 3 p.m.
• However, there are exceptions: If you suddenly fall ill and can also prove this, you can still apply for postal voting until 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.
• Anyone who decides to vote by mail at short notice should best submit the application orally to the municipality - then the documents will be handed over immediately. Where this is possible is stated in the postal voting documents. A valid photo ID and, if possible, the election notification should be presented for the application.

If you want to know more about the topic: We have summarized the most important information for postal voting in the 2020 municipal election *.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: what is the district council doing?

When and how are the ballots counted after the local elections in Bavaria? When is there a result?

• When the results of the 2020 local elections in Bavaria will be known * depends on various factors.
• The law specifies the order in which ballots are counted on the evening of the election.
• According to the electoral code, the mayors come first, followed by the district administrator, then the municipal council and district council.
• In smaller communities, where a few hundred voters cast their votes, the results of the mayoral election are already known at around 6:30 p.m.
• In some municipalities and cities, interim results of the counts are published, which can serve as the first forecast for the election outcome.
• In larger municipalities or cities, it can be later on the evening of the election until the result is known.
• According to the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the results of the mayor, OB and district elections are usually still available on election evening.
• On the evening of the election, it should also be clear in which municipalities, cities and counties there is a runoff election.
  
• The preliminary results of the municipal council, city council and district council elections are also still certain on election evening.
• Important: The results on election evening are preliminary results. The final election result will be determined by each municipality, city and county in the days after the 2020 local elections.

Which counting procedure will be used in the 2020 municipal election in Bavaria?

• The 2020 municipal election in Bavaria is counted differently than before. At the beginning of 2018, all parliamentary groups in the interior committee of the then state parliament agreed on the Sainte-Laguë / Schepers procedure , which has been valid in the Bundestag election since 2008.
• In the Sainte-Laguë / Schepers procedure, the votes of the parties and groups of voters are divided by an odd number: the divisor (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.). Each party or group of voters is then assigned a seat in turn as many times as it has the highest number of votes. Sainte-Laguë / Schepers is considered a counting process that does not favor large or small parties.
  
• A precise explanation of the counting procedure according to Sainte-Laguë / Schepers can be found on the website of the Federal Returning Officer.
• The CSU thus moved away from its proposal to counter the fragmentation of local parliaments by switching to the d'Hondt procedure. However, both the then Prime Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) and experts at a hearing had massively criticized this because it preferred larger parties such as the CSU.
• So far, counting has been carried out in Bavaria using the Hare / Niemeyer method. A small proportion of votes is enough to get a seat.
• The change to the Sainte-Laguë / Schepers counting procedure raises the hurdle.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: What is a district council actually responsible for?

• The district council is the most important organ of a district.
• He administers the district and is elected for six years.
• The committee is composed of the district councils and the district administrator as chairman.
• Among other things, his tasks include the construction and maintenance of district retirement homes or district streets as well as district youth work and waste disposal. The district council is also responsible for local public transport by bus and train.

2020 local elections in Bavaria: why are there voluntary and full-time mayors?

• In municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants, the first mayor works on a voluntary basis.
• The first mayor is full-time from municipalities with 5,000 citizens.
• The municipal council can determine a different status of the first mayor in the municipalities up to 10,000 inhabitants but up to 90 days before the election by statute. The municipalities up to 5,000 inhabitants in particular made use of this. For example, in municipalities between 3,001 and 5,000 inhabitants there are only 43 honorary but 363 full-time mayors. This is related to the high demands on the office in the respective community.
• In places with 10,000 or more inhabitants, the first mayor is generally a professional.

When do the elected officials take office after the local elections?

• The new term of office for all elected officials (mayors, district councilors, municipal councils, city councils, district councils and district councils) begins on May 1, 2020.
• The swearing-in ceremony will take place at the constituent meeting of the respective body in May 2020.
• An elected person can refuse or resign from office or mandate without giving a reason.

In which cities will the 2020 local elections in Bavaria be exciting?

The 2020 local elections will be particularly exciting in Bavaria's major cities:

In Munich , it seems possible that OB Dieter Reiter (SPD) will be replaced in 2020. He is considered a favorite in the three-way fight with Katrin Habenschaden (Greens) and Kristina Frank (CSU). But Reiter's SPD did extremely poorly recently. In the European elections, the comrades in Munich only achieved 11.4 percent. The Greens won a sensational 31.2 percent of the vote. Group leader Ludwig Hartmann was more than confident after the election: "We can now speak seriously of the goal of soon becoming a green mayor." On merkur.de * you will find the latest polls on local elections in Munich *.

The Greens won five of the nine constituencies directly in the state parliament election, and an update of the forecasts would currently even give them a lead in eight constituencies. However, this is not easy to convert to the municipal election *: since the 2014 election, around half of the voters are new to the city or have the right to vote for the first time. Do they find riders in order? Or are you angry about horrendous rents and overcrowded local transport?

Will Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter be replaced in the 2020 local elections?

© Jantz

In the election campaign, OB Reiter wants above all to convey the SPD's policy, which he considers to be extremely successful: "In the coming months we will make it clear that Munich's outstanding success is inextricably linked to the SPD." Munich is not only economically successful, but ahead everything also “social, cosmopolitan and innovative”, Reiter emphasizes. Before the local elections in Munich, the question arises whether and how the SPD should get back on its feet. OB Reiter could also become a king without an empire in an election victory - with a weakened faction that is outstripped by the Greens and the CSU. In addition to the Greens, there is also the CSU in Munich, which, with Kristina Frank, also sends a woman into the race for the OB position.

On merkur.de * you will find more information on the OB candidates from Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Regensburg, Ingolstadt and Passau.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: What are the tasks of the mayor?

Local election 2020 in Bavaria: How strong will the AfD be?

In the nationwide surveys - and especially in eastern Germany - the AfD scores strongly before the local elections in Bavaria. It is unclear whether it will achieve the past successes in elections in the eastern German states in the 2020 local elections in Bavaria. Because: As the Munich Merkur reports *, the AfD lacks candidates before the Bavarian local election. Therefore, in some places, neither city nor municipal council lists can be filled. The possible reason for the lack of workforce participation by many AfD politicians: Party representatives report hostility in their private lives or at work.

Local election 2020 in Bavaria: It will be exciting in these places

In 2014, SPD politician Joachim Wolbergs was actually elected mayor in Regensburg with more than 70 percent of the vote. However, he has been suspended for two years because of suspected corruption. The trial is still in court. If it goes to the prosecutor, Wolbergs has to go to jail. Meanwhile, Wolbergs has left the SPD. In April 2019, he founded an electoral association called "Brücke" with initially 70 supporters. As chairman of the association, Wolbergs plans to run for mayor again in spring 2020.

Joachim Wolbergs is suspended as OB because of a suspected corruption in Regensburg. Nevertheless, he wants to run again in 2020.

© dpa / Armin Weigel

In Augsburg , CSU mayor Kurt Gribl actually had good election results. Nevertheless, the mayor, who has been in office since 2008, no longer wants to run in 2020. Which came as a surprise. Gribl, who is also the chairman of the Bavarian City Council, announced in March 2019 that he would not run for mayor for a third time. His reasoning: The OB office is a temporary office. He may now be aiming for a party career. The CSU sends Gribl's deputy Eva Weber to the 2020 local election in Augsburg.

Kurt Gribl (CSU) surprisingly resigns from Augsburg in 2020 as OB.

© dpa / Stefan Puchner

Also in Nuremberg , the incumbent mayor is no longer running in the 2020 local elections: Ulrich Maly (SPD), who has ruled since 2002, waived another term in March and announced his retirement from professional politics. Now the SPD is sending its chairman Thorsten Brehm into the race for the OB post in Nuremberg.

Ulrich Maly (SPD) clears his OB chair in Nuremberg.

© picture alliance / dpa / Daniel Karmann

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: These district elections will be exciting

The district elections will also be exciting. Bavaria is also colorful there, since 2014 free voters have provided a dozen district councilors. Particularly striking: Miesbach , where the Green Wolfgang Rzehak has reigned since CSU man Jakob Kreidl sank into an affair swamp. A green in picture-book Upper Bavaria, at Tegernsee and in Kreuth - that hurts the CSU. She is now sending Mayor Olaf von Löwis (Holzkirchen) into the race. Party leader Söder himself currently does not miss an appointment in the district. Is there anything to get?

Miltenberg , where a green party supported by several parties rules, is considered difficult to get for the blacks.

Estimates of voter potential also make Starnberg appear shaky between black and green. The situation for the CSU is also very tense in the “black” district of Freising - keyword runway debate.

In Erding , even the SPD, Greens and Free Voters come together to overthrow CSU District Administrator Martin Bayerstorfer, but the prospect is uncertain.

Upper Bavaria's southeast ( Rosenheim, Traunstein, Berchtesgaden ) is considered to be rather stable at the district level for the CSU.

In Lower Bavaria , several district offices could again go to the free voters, where their well-known Vice Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger also lives. The risk of losing individual items to the AfD is also considered low behind the scenes.

Local elections 2020 in Bavaria: Local results on merkur.de

It keeps merkur.de up to date for the counties of the region. From election evening you will find information on results from the city of Munich and the following counties:

• Bad Toelz-Wolfratshausen
• Dachau
• Ebersberg
• Erding
• Freising
• Fürstenfeldbruck
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen
• Miesbach
• Munich (district)
• Starnberg
• Weilheim-Schongau

You can also get more precise results for the cities of Nuremberg, Augsburg, Regensburg, Ingolstadt and Passau.

* merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network