112. Elections in Germany are …

Answer options

1. special.
2. secret.
3. profession-related.
4. gender-dependent.

Explanation

Under Article 38(1) of the Basic Law, members of the Bundestag are elected in general, direct, free, equal, and secret elections; the secrecy of the ballot guarantees an unobserved vote and prevents attributing a specific vote to a specific voter. Pursuant to Article 28(1) GG, these electoral principles also bind the Länder and municipalities. Historically, the secret ballot was established by the Electoral Law of the North German Confederation (1869), applied in the German Empire from 1871, and reaffirmed in the Weimar Constitution; since 1918 Germany has had universal suffrage irrespective of sex. Any profession- or sex-based restrictions would violate electoral equality and the equality guarantee of Article 3 GG.