In every federal election, parties and voters look forward to the end of the count.
But when can you expect the first results?
Berlin - In Germany there is a short embargo period for election results.
While newspapers and television stations ask the Sunday question ("Who would you vote if there were parliamentary elections next Sunday?") Regularly and shortly before state or federal elections, forecasts about the possible outcome of the election may not be published as long as voters are still casting their votes.
Since it is assumed that initial results and predictions could influence voting behavior, these reports are taboo on election Sunday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
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Bundestag election: first results from "exit polls"
The counting of the votes cast begins on the day of the Bundestag election shortly after 6 p.m. directly after the polling stations have closed. This also applies to the votes cast via postal voting in the days before the actual election. An early start of the counting is prohibited. Nonetheless, the television stations and the online editions of the newspapers are already showing forecasts as their first results a few minutes after the polling stations have closed.
These figures come from the exit polls.
In a federal election, voting is possible in around 80,000 polling stations.
A post-election survey is carried out in around 400 of these restaurants, which are selected at random.
There the voters receive a questionnaire after they have cast their vote, which they fill out independently and put in a collection box.
The following information is included in the evaluation:
to predict the current election result, the party that was voted for
to track voter migration, which party was elected in the last federal election
Postal voters are excluded from the post-election survey.
The results are relatively accurate, as there are no non-voters or the undecided.
Their information flows into the less reliable pre-election surveys.
The results of the federal election 2021 at a glance
Bundestag election: first results are preliminary
When the polling stations close at 6 p.m., the election workers immediately begin counting the votes cast for the Bundestag election.
The first results from the polling stations can be expected from 7 p.m. at the earliest.
The votes are counted in several steps:
The electoral board determines the number of people entitled to vote using the electoral roll and the number of ballots taken (for voters who vote in a different constituency than their own).
The voting slips are then counted in order to determine their total number.
The next count includes all valid first votes.
In the next step, the helpers record all valid second votes.
Then the volunteers record the number of valid first votes per candidate.
In the last step, the second votes for the state lists of the parties are counted.
A constituency is made up of many different voting districts so that every voter can reach a polling station as easily as possible.
The electoral board reports the results of the census achieved in the electoral district by means of a quick telephone message to the municipality, which forwards the numbers to the district returning officer.
The latter transmits the results to the regional returning officer, who forwards them to the federal returning officer.
These figures are preliminary.
Bundestag election: First results only official after examination
In order for the count at the polling station to lead to an official final result, it is necessary to check the records. In each of the 40,000 or so polling stations, the electoral officers create a record during the count, which records the entire process for evaluation. After the federal election, the constituency leader checks every record from the bars in his constituency for plausibility. If everything is in order, the quick report becomes the official final result. If the first results show abnormalities, the counting of the votes in this constituency must be repeated. For this purpose, all ballot papers are kept sorted by voting district. It may take a few days for the evaluation to be completed. It therefore takes some time before the official final result is announced.Interested parties can see all results from 1949 to 2009 clearly presented at the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
At
Merkur.de
you can always find out up-to-date in advance what the polls say for the federal election in 2021. In addition, we provide you with all the important data and figures on our interactive map with all the results for constituencies and municipalities.
