An article by Merle Strunk
The holding of elections does not automatically provide for a just democracy. Nevertheless, making use of your right to vote is one of the simplest and most effective ways to create more justice in society according to your own personal understanding. But how just can democracies be if not everyone is allowed to vote? In Germany alone, up to 8.5 million people of legal age would be excluded from voting if federal elections were held in 2024 because German electoral law only grants citizens the right to vote.
But not being a citizen is just one of the reasons that stand between people and their suffrage. Gender discrimination, having a disability, homelessness or information and language barriers were and continue to be reasons why people cannot vote or find it more difficult to do so. There are millions of people around the world living in democracies but who still have no say in which politicians represent them. This is not only unfair, it also creates an enormous representation gap in politics. To realise a just democracy, we need to close this gap between duties and rights. Many initiatives and social movements have been pursuing this goal. In Germany, three groups in particular have been fighting to protect and extend the right to vote over at least 120 years: women, migrants and people with disabilities. And it was never just a national fight that stopped at borders; international affairs and rule-making have played a huge role for these developments. Furthermore, international exchange has repeatedly strengthened these protest groups, even though the fights didn’t come without setbacks. Below, we discuss the campaigns of the actors who stood up for equality and
representation and thus fought for a more just democracy.
People with disabilities who were legally assisted in all matters were not allowed to vote in Germany. Since the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was ratified in the country in 2008, the demands for equal rights had reached a new level. Because the exclusion of people with disabilities from voting could be seen as a clear violation of the convention. The Federal Election Act was finally amended in 2019. This meant that over 80,000 people became first-time voters at once. But voting in Germany is still not truly inclusive. Many polling stations are not easily accessible and information is not always provided in easy language or sign language. These examples also touch on the point that not only voting is often not barrier-free. Often social and political participation is not either. A situation that should be different in a democracy and that also makes it difficult for people with disabilities to pursue a political career. One result of this: Only 3.2 percent of members of the Bundestag have a disability. If parliament represented the average of the entire population, it would have to be 9.5 percent. If we look at the rest of the EU, we also see a mixed picture. For example, in some European countries, only one person is allowed in the polling station at a time. People with disabilities who need assistance are subsequently excluded from voting as no alternative such as postal voting is offered.
1918: Women's rights
On November 30, women obtain active and passive voting rights.§ This right is anchored in Article 109, Paragraph 2 of the Weimar Constitution of August 1, 1919: „Men and women have the same fundamental rights and responsibilities.
In the German Empire, the women’s fight for the right to vote began at the end of the 19th century. Activists organised themselves into associations, held international events and wrote political pamphlets. Among them were well-known women’s rights activists such as Clara Zetkin, Hedwig Dohm, Anita Augsprung and Marie Stritt. The women were repeatedly ridiculed for their political commitment, but their perseverance paid off. In the elections to the National Constituent Assembly in 1919, women aged 20 or older in Germany were able to vote and to run for election for the first time. The result: the turnout of women was 82 per cent and 37 women entered the parliament of the Weimar Republic. In Germany, women’s suffrage was introduced early compared to other European countries. Liechtenstein was the final European country to introduce active and passive women’s suffrage in 1984. Even today, women’s suffrage has not been fully recognised worldwide. And in some cases, despite women appearing to have gained voting rights, the details matter. For example, in some places women do not normally have an ID card, yet it is made a perquisite for voting; thus, they are de facto excluded from the electoral process.
1992: Non-citizen voting
“Every citizen of the Union residing in a Member State of which he is not a national shall have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections in the Member State in which he resides, under the same conditions as nationals of that State.” § Treaty on the European Union, Article 8b, 1992, German National Assembly, 1918, Paragraph 2
Along with the growing number of immigrants, “guest-worker” communities in Germany from the 1950s onward came the issue of their right to vote. It became especially acute when it turned out that many stayed much longer than expected. Since then, migrant organisations have been fighting for their right to vote in Germany, but so far without success. Only German citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections regardless of whether people have lived in Germany for a very long time, were perhaps even born in Germany or pay taxes here. The situation continues to cause significant frustration and has an impact on approval of and trust in democracy. In 1989, the federal state Schleswig-Holstein introduced municipal voting rights for foreigners. However, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the reform shortly afterwards, arguing that when the Basic Law states “All state authority is derived from the people”, “the people” means German citizens. This decision was fiercely debated. Finally, with the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the right to vote in local elections was introduced for citizens of EU states. It represents an important step, but one that also increased the perception of injustice among non-EU citizens. Therefore, initiatives continue to fight for the right to vote regardless of passports. They draw attention to their concerns with campaigns such as symbolic elections, in which people without suffrage are able to show who they would vote for if given the opportunity.
2019: Voting Rights for People with disabilities
“States Parties shall guarantee to persons with disabilities political rights and the opportunity to enjoy them on an equal basis with others. ” § UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 29, 2006
People with disabilities who are legally assisted in all matters were not allowed to vote in Germany. Since the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was ratified in the country in 2008, the demands for equal rights had reached a new level because the exclusion of people with disabilities from voting could be seen as a clear violation of the convention. The Federal Election Act was finally amended in 2019. This meant that over 80,000 people immediately became first-time voters. Still, many polling stations are not easily accessible and information is not always provided in simple language or sign language. Beyond voting, social and political participation is also not often barrier-free. It can be difficult for people with disabilities to pursue a political career: today, only 3.2 per cent of members of the German Bundestag have a disability. If parliament represented the average of the entire population, the share would have to be 9.5 per cent. If we look at the rest of the EU, we also see a mixed picture. For example, in some European countries, only one person is allowed in the polling station at a time. As a consequence, people with disabilities who need assistance are excluded from voting when no alternative such as postal voting is offered.
