Foreigners' voting and candidacy rights in Germany

Leftist, Green, and Social Democratic parties in Berlin are discussing expanding voting rights for city residents to include non-German nationals who have lived in the city for at least five years. The aim is to enable all residents to participate politically in local elections. The proposal is based on the principle that political participation should not be solely tied to nationality, especially since hundreds of thousands of Berlin residents are actively involved in the city’s daily life and influence its policies despite lacking German citizenship. This measure faces legal opposition, as the German constitution states that political rights are linked to possession of citizenship, and implementing such a change may require a constitutional amendment. Experts affirm that the only way to realize this is through a constitutional revision, as the Federal Constitutional Court expects to reject any attempts to expand voting rights for non-citizens at the local level unless accompanied by complete constitutional changes. If implemented, this could allow hundreds of thousands of non-citizen residents to participate in elections, potentially transforming the electoral landscape and increasing the influence of migration and integration issues in local policymaking.

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