correct composition of the people’s representation within a suitable period is one aspect which can be taken into account when shaping the election procedure and the
election scrutiny procedure (see BVerfGE 85, 148 (159)). The matter of the assembly
of a new Bundestag in good time (see Article 39.2 of the Basic Law) is however not
endangered by sufficient precautions being taken to ensure public elections. There is
no constitutional requirement for the election result to be available shortly after closing the polling stations. What is more, the past Bundestag elections have shown that
the preliminary official final result of the elections can as a rule be submitted in a matter of hours, even without the deployment of voting machines. The interest in rapidly
clarifying the composition of the German Bundestag is therefore not a constitutional
interest that is suited to impose restrictions on the public nature of the election event.
4. The normative level on which the questions related to the deployment of voting
machines are to be regulated is determined in line with the requirements of the parliamentary reservation and the requirements which are placed on the authorisation to issue legal ordinances (Article 80.1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law).
133
a) The parliamentary reservation rooted in the principle of the rule of law and in the
principle of democracy requires that the major decisions are to be taken by the legislature in fundamental normative areas, especially in the area of the exercise of fundamental rights, insofar as this is amenable to state regulation (see BVerfGE 49, 89
(126-127); 61, 260 (275); 80, 124 (132); 101, 1 (34)). The obligation to legislate relates here not only to the question of whether a certain article must be regulated by
law at all, but also to how far these individual regulations have to go (see BVerfGE
101, 1 (34)).
134
According to Article 80.1 sentence 2 of the Basic Law, the content, purpose and
scope of the authorisation to issue legal ordinances must be laid down in the statute
concerned. The legislature itself must decide which questions are to be regulated by
the legal ordinance, within what limits and with what goal (see BVerfGE 2, 307 (334);
5, 71 (76-77); 23, 62 (72)). The wording of the authorisation need not be formulated
as precisely as possible; it must constitutionally only be sufficiently determined (see
BVerfGE 55, 207 (226); 58, 257 (277); 62, 203 (209-210). It is sufficient if the limits of
the authorisation are determinable by interpretation using the interpretation principles
that are generally recognised; the goals of the statute, the context together with other
provisions and the genesis of the statute are significant here (see BVerfGE 8, 274
(307); 23, 62 (73); 55, 207 (226-227); 80, 1 (20-21)). In detail, the requirements as to
the level of determinedness depend on the particularities of the respective object of
regulation and on the intensity of the measure (see BVerfGE 58, 257 (277-278); 62,
203 (210); 76, 130 (143)). Whilst less stringent requirements are to be made with circumstances that are highly varied and subject to rapid change, more stringent requirements apply to the degree of determinedness of the authorisation with those
regulations which are linked to more intensive encroachments on legal positions
which are protected by fundamental rights (see BVerfGE 58, 257 (278); 62, 203
(210)).
135
29/37