Until now, German citizens living abroad can vote in German elections if they have resided in Germany for three consecutive months at any time in their lives. The Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has now decided that this condition violates the German constitutional principle of universality of the vote. The case had been taken to court by two Germans who were born in Belgium in 1982 and have never resided in Germany for a longer period. The Court took a 7:1 decision. Judge Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff cast a minority vote arguing that the three month residence requirement was justified as a “necessary minimum indication for a real connection to the Federal Republic”. The franchise of German citizens residing abroad had been expanded several times in recent years. An initial condition of no more than ten years emigration was extended and finally scrapped altogether. The three month residence criterion was the last remaining constraint.