Initiatives for Non-Citizen Voting Rights in Three European Countries

This sub-project deals with the topic of non-citizen voting rights with a perspective on initiatives that campaign for more inclusive local voting rights for migrants. It looks at three very active initiatives in three cities with a growing foreign population in three different European countries: in Basel/Switzerland, Brussels/Belgium and Freiburg/Germany. All three initiatives address local authorities with the need to increase options for migrant political participation at the local level and at the same time encourage foreign populations to become more politically engaged.

The research will address the structural and institutional environment in the three mentioned cities; describe the local policies of belonging, existing opportunities for participation of non-citizen residents, and the history of appeals for non-citizen residents to gain the right to vote.

Second, we analyze the three initiatives on the basis of participant observation, interviews and surveys, focusing on the members, their work and political stands of the initiatives.

In the earlier research on migrant political participation based on the NCCR Migration & Mobility Survey, we found that the level of migrants’ education is even more important for unconventional political activities such as participating in petitions, demonstrations and consumer boycotts. As all three studied initiatives have to work through means other than voting, they provide a relevant case for observing what kind of resources are needed for non-citizen participation, in their leadership, outreach and dialogue with the relevant local authorities. We make the case that the existing possibilities for political participation of non-citizens require a lot of resources and are no substitute for voting rights.