Issue No.
13372
BACK in 5th century BC, Metics, or non-Athenian residents, were required to pay a poll tax and serve in the city’s military even though they were denied the right to vote in Athenian democracy.
Fast forward to 2010, and Greece’s voting-rights law is at a critical juncture.
The socialist Pasok government recently unveiled a new draft law under which immigrants who are longterm or permanent residents will be granted the right to vote in municipal elections. The next municipal elections are scheduled for October 2010.
Currently, only Greek citizens and other European Union nationals who are legal residents in Greece are able to influence local policy. Non-EU immigrants do not have the right to vote or stand as a candidate in municipal elections despite paying taxes and contributing to the country’s social security system.
Not the first
Pasok’s proposal is not unprecedented. Other EU countries across Europe have granted non-citizens limited voting rights.
According to sources at the interior ministry, the government is determined to press ahead with the law in order to encourage the social integration of legal immigrants.
The Council of Europe will be pleased. It has long pushed member states to open the ballot box to immigrants.
“Foreigners living in a country for several years should enjoy the same rights to take part in decision-making concerning their own local community,” Walter Schwimmer, the council’s secretary-general, two years ago told a conference titled “Local Democracy at the Dawn of the 21st Century,” in Latvia.
In Europe, local voting rights for non-citizens go back as far as 1849 in one Swiss canton. Immigrant voting rights have since been instituted in about a dozen European countries. Voting rights have been reciprocal among European Union members since 1992.
What the bill says
Based on the government’s proposed law, all non-EU nationals who legally reside in Greece and who are 18 years of age or older have the right to participate in municipal elections provided they are longterm or permanent residents.
Longterm resident status is granted after five years of legal residence in Greece to immigrants who can demonstrate fluency in the Greek language and knowledge of Greek history and culture. The status of permanent resident may be secured after 10 years of legal and continuous residence in Greece.
The immigrant parents of a Greek citizen may also participate in local government elections provided they have been residing legally and continuously in Greece for at least five years.
Refugees and their family members may also participate.
Immigrants who are eligible to vote in the local government elections also gain the right to run for city council. They will not be allowed to run for the office of mayor or deputy mayor.
The European Convention
THE ISSUE of immigrants’ voting right was first raised in 1973, when the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe recommended governments grant migrant workers the right to vote and stand in local government elections.
In 1992, the Council of Europe adopted the Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at the Local Level. According to the convention, immigrants should be allowed to participate in the elections provided that they fulfil the same legal requirements as nationals and have been a lawful and habitual resident for the five years preceding the elections.
To date, this convention has only been ratified by eight countries (Denmark, Finland, Italy, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Albania and Sweden). Greece’s has yet to sign.
The only other countries that have signed the convention are Cyprus and the United Kingdom. They have yet to ratify it.
Opposing views
YES
- The right to vote is not about citizenship. It’s about exerting political power. This is one of the main reasons why women - who were citizens - were historically denied the right to vote
- Immigrants residing in Greece legally pay taxes, so they should be allowed to vote. No taxation without representation
- It’s not a substitute for citizenship. Extending voting rights to immigrants will prepare them for citizenship. It will promote civic education and political literacy among immigrants
NO
- Voting rights should belong exclusively to citizens so as not to devalue the very notion of citizenship
- Immigrants already get something back for paying taxes: roads, schools, police etc
- Extending voting rights to non-citizens undermines the very idea of citizenship because it would remove one of the last distinctions between citizens and non-citizen residents
The debate
Antigoni Lyberaki, professor of economics at Panteion University, says immigrant voting rights are a long time coming.
“It’s something we should have already introduced,” says Lyberaki, who has conducted extensive research on the socioeconomic integration of immigrants in Greece. “Immigrants are here and they should have a say about what is going on around them, in their city and in their neighbourhood. I believe the proposed law is a step in the right direction as regards how we treat immigrants.”
Hans Vermeulen from the Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of Amsterdam agrees.
“I think it’s extremely important to be able to vote in local elections for immigrants because
it gives them a voice in local politics,” says Vermeulen, who now lives permanently in Greece.
“In the country I come from, the Netherlands, it is proven there that it forces political parties to take much more into account the opinions of immigrants who are an important part of the city population. Immigrants will be taken more seriously if they have a voice in local politics.”
However...
Dimitris Kaloyeropoulos, president of the Union of Municipalities and Communities of Attica (TEDKNA), is hesitant about extending the right to vote to immigrants and is calling for a referendum on the issue.
“We are not against it in principle,” says Kaloyeropoulos, who is also the mayor of Aigaleo, a western Athens municipality. “We are in favour of extending voting rights to immigrants who are legal and permanently residing in Greece, but not if this will be used for political gains. It’s a delicate issue that must be handled with due care so that the system is not abused.”
Alexandros Zavos, president of the Hellenic Migration Policy Institute, Greece’s only government-sponsored think-tank, says he, too, is concerned about how voting rights will be extended.
“I believe that it is very important to make sure that immigrants who will become eligible to vote in the elections are not only legal residents for at least five years but that they are also fluent in Greek so that they can understand the issues at stake,” says Zavos, who was appointed by the former New Democracy government.
“One major shortcoming of Pasok’s proposed law is that it only allows immigrants to vie for certain posts - not for the office of mayor,” adds Zavos. “You cannot do this based on anti-discrimination law. I fear that this will be contested in the European courts. You either grant full rights to participate in local government elections or you don’t give any rights.”
Voting rights around the world
The following is a partial list of nations in which varying jurisdictions have passed laws permitting non-citizens to participate in elections
2006
France Two-thirds of residents of town of Saint-Denis vote in favour of allowing non-citizens local voting rights; court rules that vote is non-binding
2005
Bulgaria EU nationals granted right to vote in local elections
2004
Estonia Russian-speaking minority with permanent resident status granted voting rights in local elections
Italy Immigrants allowed to vote for four non-voting members of Rome city council and one non-voting seat at each of 19 district councils
Belgium Non-citizens give right to vote in local elections
2003
Luxembourg Local voting rights passed with no nationality restrictions
2002
Austria Local elections in Vienna
Slovakia Local voting rights for 3-year residents
Slovenia Local voting rights for 3-year residents
Lithuania EU nationals granted local voting rights
2001
Czech Republic Voting rights in local elections approved for EU nationals
1990
Hungary Local elections for permanent residents (revised in 2004 to allow only EU nationals)
1989
Germany States of Schleswig-Holstein approve local voting rights for Danish, Irish, Norse, Dutch, Swedish and Swiss 5-year residents; state of Hamburg approved local voting for 8-year residents; West Berlin passed local voting for 5-year residents. All were struck down by constitutional court in
1990.
Chile Local and national elections
1986
Iceland 3-year residents from Nordic Union citizens can vote in local elections
1985
Spain Local elections
1984
Australia Repealed 1947 legislation but voters registered before 1984 retained their voting rights
1983
Venezuela 10-year residents can vote in local and state elections
1981
Finland Nordic Union citizens can vote in local elections (expanded in 1991 to all 4-year residents)
1979
Netherlands Local elections in Rotterdam (expanded nationwide in 1985)
1978
Norway Local elections for Nordic Union (expanded in 1995 to 3-year residents)
1977
Denmark Local elections for Nordic Union (expanded in 1981 to all foreign residents)
1976
Portugal National and some local elections (expanded in 1997 to all 3-year residents)
1975
Sweden Local and regional elections, plus some national referenda
1963
Ireland Local elections (expanded in 1984 to remove six-month residency requirement and to allow British citizens the vote on the national level)
1952
Uruguay National elections for 15-year residents
1950
Israel Local elections for Jewish residents only
1947
Australia National and local for British nationals only
1948
United Kingdom National elections for Commonwealth and Irish citizens
1849
Switzerland 5-year residents in Neuchatel canton (expanded in 1979 to 10-year residents in Jura canton)
And growing...
IMMIGRATION is the largest component of population growth in Greece. Immigrants make up an estimated 10 percent of the country’s population of 11 million.
An estimated 60 percent of foreign-born residents are Albanian.
Very few immigrants have permanent residence. Even fewer have managed to obtain Greek citizenship through the process of naturalisation.
Greek law requires more than a decade of residence to naturalise and also imposes tough requirements, as well as a non-refundable application fee of 1,500 euros.
Official data published exclusively by the Athens News in October, show an estimated 65,000 immigrants in Greece have managed to secure longterm or permanent residence permits.
ATHENS NEWS 24/04/2009, page: 16-17
