Postal balloting, discrepancies in the electoral roll and the funding mechanism of political parties were popular issues among participants of a public forum on the German electoral system in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

They wanted to know if such things occurred in the German system and to what extent it influenced the outcome of the country's parliamentary and state elections.

Germany practices a system that combines both majority voting and proportional representation.

Hermann Glaab, the deputy federal returning officer of Germany, delivered a paper explaining the mechanics of the country's electoral system and shared his views on some of the problems encountered in the process.

He said the federal electoral committee (Malaysia's equivalent of the Election Commission) notifies each citizen of his/her eligibility to vote.

"Citizens must choose between voting via postal ballots or going to the polling station. They also have to return a slip to the committee on whether or not they are going to vote," he said.

No abuse

During the question-and-answer session, the postal balloting issue was posed by participants to compare with the Malaysian experience, which they claimed was extensively abused.

"So far, we have not recorded any case of abuse in postal voting. Postal voting is open to any German citizen who is an eligible voter," he said.

"After the last elections, there were 200 complaints involving postal balloting but they were later found to be technical in nature, including a failure to place the ballot paper in an envelope before casting in the ballot box. These were not political issues."

Relating one case of abuse, Glaab said someone was offering a postal ballot for sale on the Internet just before the elections.

"When we learnt about it, we informed the prosecutor who intervened immediately. There were no similar cases after that," he added.

The forum was organised by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Institute of Malaysian and

International Studies, which is currently completing recommendations on possible reforms for the Malaysian electoral system.

The talk was sponsored by Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung (FNS), a German foundation that promotes political liberalism in and outside Germany through civic education, political consultancy and dialogue.

Funding aspects

Participants also raised questions about the funding aspects of political parties. Glaab said there were laws governing public funding for political parties, which include a fixed annual subsidy by the German parliament.

"The rest come from private sources including individuals, businesses and foreigners," he added.

He said there were instances where corporations had tried to 'donate' money in small amounts but they were found out by the media, which went public with the case.

"Under the law, the political parties are fined three times the amount received and made to return the entire sum," he added.

Citing reported cases, participants asked how well the German system was equipped to prevent the tampering or misuse of the electoral list, similar to Malaysia's record of phantom voters and illegal transfers to a different constituency.

Glaab said their electoral list was based on the national population register that was updated daily by the respective local authorities until one day before the polls.

"The registry must also be notified of any change of address within 14 days. The list is then made public for verification purposes before it is sent to the polling station the day before polling," he said.

"So far, I have never heard of any attempt to tamper or manipulate the voters' list in Germany," he added.

He said that while there were a few cases of gerrymandering, it was difficult because of the existing laws which are strictly observed by the parties, people and the media.

Nomination procedures

On the nomination procedures, Glaab said 200 supporting signatures must be obtained from the public before any nomination can be validated.

"The signatories must be inhabitants of that area and checks are conducted at several different levels to prevent any discrepancy.

"We had a few cases where the parties tried to forge the supporting signatures but it was very difficult to do, and so the attempt failed due to the close scrutiny," he said.

FNS project director, Rainer Heufers, who expanded on Glaab's presentation and shared his own views, insisted that the prevailing German political culture posed a strong influence on the democratic practice of elections and governance.

"We want everyone to participate and be in the public domain. That is why you get to see all kinds of parties trying to contest the elections."

He said that although each political party has its share of scandals, the existing laws and the public provide the necessary checks and balance in ensuring a smooth democratic process.