Manfred Weber and Katarina Barley – these names are still among the better known among the top candidates for the European elections in Germany. But in total more than 1300 candidates promote the votes of the voters. An overview.
In the European elections in Germany 41 parties with a total of 1380 candidates promote the votes of the voters. Ninety-six of these candidates will be co-decisionmakers in Strasbourg and Brussels over the next five years.
FDP with the longest Federal list
By far the longest federal list was drawn up by the FDP in this European election: it nominated 168 candidates. Even more candidates will send only the CDU in the race – but its 180 candidates are distributed on 15 country lists.
Many of the smaller parties have submitted to the Federal Returning Officer lists with only eight to 15 candidates. With the shortest federal list, the party for the animals, which sends five candidates into the race.
List place 1 is especially important for small parties
The smaller parties hope, given the lack of a blocking clause, to be able to send at least one member to the European Parliament. For that could be enough for a result between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of the votes – in the European elections in 2014, two German parties attracted with results of 0.6 percent in parliament. That makes it all the more important for many parties to be the top candidate for List Position 1, which offers the best chance of making the leap to the European Parliament.
