When is the date of the federal election in 2021? Can it be postponed?

Four years after Angela Merkel's last election victory, the federal election will take place in 2021.

Only the Chancellor could seriously have changed the date.

Munich -

A new Bundestag will be elected in Germany

on September 26, 2021

.

Almost exactly four years to the day after the last federal election, voters decide how Angela Merkel should go on after 16 years.

When the Chancellor announced her departure from politics, it was also largely clear until when she would remain in office.

When it comes to the date for the next federal election, there is basically hardly any room for maneuver.

A postponement of the federal election in 2021 is also almost impossible.

(Election data, live ticker, background coverage - all information about the federal election 2021 can be found in our politics newsletter.)

Who decides when the federal election date is?

Clear provisions in the Basic Law apply to federal elections.

According to Article 39 paragraph 1, the next federal election must always take place 46 to 48 months after the start of the current electoral term.

Parliament is always elected for four years.

The Basic Law defines very high hurdles for the premature dissolution of parliament.

The decision on the election date is made by the Federal President.

As a rule, it follows the previous recommendation of the federal government.

There are only a few days to choose from, because the federal electoral law only allows a

Sunday or a public holiday

as the date for the federal election.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier has arranged the next election date on December 8, 2020.

+

As Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier had the task of setting the date for the federal election.

© dpa / Jesco Denzel

When are other important dates for the 2021 federal election?

The date of September 26th as the date of the federal election in 2021 also indicates when the important deadlines end before the federal election.

For voters, it is particularly relevant until when they receive their voting notification and until when they can request the postal vote.

A first important date is September 5, 2021. By this deadline, the municipalities must send their notifications to those entitled to vote.

Anyone who is eligible to vote and still has not received one should ask the municipality as quickly as possible.

The deadline for applying for a ballot is September 24, 2021. This process is usually referred to as a request for a postal vote, but the name is slightly misleading. You don't have to have the ballot sent to you by post and you don't have to send it back by post. Anyone who shows up at the polling station by 6 p.m. on September 24th can fill out the ballot there and hand in the ballot letter again. Postal votes are also only counted if the voting letter arrives at the address printed in the mailbox by September 26, 2021 at 6 p.m.

At

Merkur.de

you can always find out up-to-date in advance what the polls say for the federal election in 2021.

Before the election, the top candidates of the parties will also be of great importance, not only in the personal decision about the chancellorship.

You will also find an interactive map here with all the results for constituencies and municipalities.

Is it possible to postpone the federal election in 2021?

The Scientific Service of the Bundestag states that the Bundestag election can only be postponed within a narrow time window. These are the

46 to 48 months

that the Basic Law stipulates as leeway. If the date has already been set, however, there are very high hurdles to move it a little further forward or backward. These would include, for example, "natural disasters, civil unrest, epidemics or large-scale strikes". So there would have to be a major state of emergency before the federal election in 2021.

A postponement of the election day beyond the time window is not possible according to the current legal situation. This could only happen in a case of defense. The Basic Law regards the case of defense as given if “the federal territory is attacked with armed force or such an attack is imminent”, as stated in Article 115.

As long as Germany is not confronted with a war on its own territory, the parliamentary term of four years always applies.

The last realistic possibility is also no longer relevant a few months before a federal election.

If Angela Merkel puts the vote of confidence in the Bundestag

and there is no majority behind her, the Federal President could dissolve the Bundestag and thus bring about new elections.

However, this is no longer expected before the date of the federal election in 2021.

(rm)