This decision can have far-reaching consequences: On Thursday, the Wiesbaden Administrative Court approved the polling institute Forsa in an urgent procedure, which wants to publish polls about the voting decisions already made by postal voters.

The Federal Returning Officer had forbidden the pollsters to do so and threatened them with a substantial fine.

Reinhard Muller

Responsible editor for "Current Affairs" and FAZ Einspruch, responsible for "State and Law".

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But aren't all respondents asked about their voting intent anyway? Yes, but the postal voters have already cast their votes. And the federal electoral law prohibits the publication of the results of voter surveys after voting until the polling stations are closed. This is an administrative offense and can be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 euros. In the past, "exit polls" were sometimes broadcast before polling stations were closed, for example on Twitter. That is exactly what the legislature wanted to prevent. And the Federal Returning Officer was of the opinion that the same should apply to postal voters who have already cast their votes.

But the Wiesbaden Administrative Court sees it differently: It emphasizes the freedom of action of election research institutes as well as the right to free media reporting. The publication of surveys that take postal voters into account is not an inadmissible influence on the electorate or voters, but rather has "a place in the public discourse and opinion-forming process as an element of election campaign reporting". The free formation of the will of the voters is not impaired by the publication of such surveys before election day. The withholding of this information would "on the other hand certainly represent a restriction on the freedom of information".

This view is applauded by the demoscopes, who otherwise, at least Forsa argued, would be unable to reflect the current state of opinion formation. "This would not be compatible with our understanding of serious election research and would have resulted in a factual ban on the publication of election polls from six weeks before the election date."

Also an idea. In any case, the situation today is completely different compared to the times when postal votes were still the exception. Today, as 40 percent of the electorate may vote by letter, the voting process is already far removed from the constitutional model of voting in the ballot box. The surveys and the way they are presented are of great importance. Of course, free voting is also affected here. If the Wiesbaden decision is taken seriously, other information about votes that have already been cast should also be possible before the polling stations close. But that was precisely what the legislature did not want. Or is the right of opinion pollers to pursue their profession above the will of the sovereign and above the protection of the free formation of the will of the electorate from manipulation?