The Hessian SPD and its top candidate, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, have corrected an embarrassing mistake: the party is now not calling for local voting rights for refugees who have been in Germany for more than six months, as stated in their party manifesto. .
The error in the program has already been corrected. However, the party advocates local voting rights for foreigners from outside the EU who have been legally resident in the country for more than six years. As reported, the right to vote for refugees with a stay of six months or longer caused a lot of political controversy. The CDU has clearly rejected this, calling it one of “our highest democratic values”. The AfD (Alternative for Germany) even spoke of a ‘migration policy disaster’.
Political observers spoke of an attempt to win votes from potential new voters. However, this idea of equality between citizens and refugees could play into the hands of the AfD.
Debate also in Austria
The debate also reached Austria. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) has rejected local voting rights for refugees. Obtaining citizenship and thus the right to vote “stands at the end of a successful integration process – not at the beginning of it,” he said.
Source: Krone
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