Statutory exclusions from voting rights of persons placed under full guardianship and of offenders confined, for lack of criminal responsibility, in a psychiatric hospital must not be applied in the European elections

Press Release No. 29/2019 of 15 April 2019

Judgment of 15 April 2019
2 BvQ 22/19

In a judgment pronounced today, issuing a preliminary injunction upon an application by members of the German Bundestag from several parliamentary groups, the Second Senate held:

For the ninth European elections on 26 May 2019, § 6a(1) nos. 2 and 3 of the European Elections Act (Europawahlgesetz) and § 6a(2) no. 1 in conjunction with § 6a(1) nos. 2 and 3 European Elections Act must not be applied in relation to applications for voter registration (§§ 17, 17a of the European Electoral Regulations, Europawahlordnung) nor in relation to objections and complaints against the accuracy and completeness of the electoral roll (§ 21 of the European Electoral Regulations).

The provisions declared inapplicable contain exclusions from voting rights of persons placed under full guardianship and of offenders confined, for lack of criminal responsibility, in a psychiatric hospital. In accordance with § 32(5) first sentence of the Federal Constitutional Court Act (Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz), the decision was communicated without reasons. The reasons will be published without undue delay after the written judgment has been drawn up.