Voting age is one of several requirements.
Section 48 NKomVG permits German citizens and citizens of other EU states to vote if they are at least 16 on election day and have lived in the relevant municipality or county for at least three months. They must not be excluded from voting by a German court decision.
The state returning officer also points to the electoral register or a voting certificate. For a county council election, the relevant area is the county; for a municipal council election, it is the municipality. Living somewhere in Niedersachsen therefore does not automatically qualify someone for every local election.
The other three answers
Keep minimum voting age, adulthood and candidacy separate.
14
Fourteen is below the voting threshold for these local elections. Other forms of youth participation are separate.
18
An 18-year-old may also be eligible, but 16-year-olds can already vote under the legal conditions. Eighteen is therefore not the minimum asked for.
20
Twenty is not the relevant threshold. Eligible voters do not have to wait until their twentieth birthday.
Standing as a candidate follows different rules.
For a local council seat, section 49 generally requires age 18 and six months of residence in the area, alongside citizenship and further eligibility conditions. Keep the three months for voting distinct from the six months for standing.
Full-time mayoral and county-chief offices have special candidacy rules. Do not transfer those rules to voting or an ordinary council seat. The test question asks only for the minimum voting age.
Section 48 · Voting from 16 · Niedersachsen’s local government law ↗Niedersachsen local elections: vote from 16.
Voting and being elected are two different questions.
Three words for this question
- die Kommunalwahllocal election
- An election at municipal, city or county level.
- wahlberechtigteligible to vote
- Entitled to cast a vote in a particular election.
- wählbareligible to stand
- Meeting the conditions to be elected oneself.