Less satisfaction in democracy calls for more migrants in politics.
In 2024 more than 3 billion people voted, yet the satisfaction in democracy dropped below 50%. Diverse politicians and awaking voters’ enthusiasm are the sought-after antidote for democratic apathy.
We just completed the year of supper elections. In 2024 over 4 billion people voted in 73 countries. The democratic deficit caused by excluding migrants from voting is missing from any political analysis. Again. If there was any better time to talk about the electoral inclusion of migrants it is now. If diverse politicians and awaking voters’ enthusiasm are the sought-after antidote for democratic apathy then migrants’ electoral inclusion is the solution. But where to start? Here are two ideas.
If you have been part of the Migrant Vote since the early days, you may skip to the second part. You already know why the right to democracy should not depend on citizenship status. If you joined in recent months keep reading to get a condensed summary of the arguments for migrant electoral inclusion.
Why votes for migrants matter?
1 in 12 residents of Europe live in a country where they are not citizens. For countries such as Luxemburg, that ratio is 1 in 2. For Ireland, Belgium, and Germany it is 1 in 7. It’s not a full democracy if so many members of our societies cannot vote. The diaspora has the right to vote in their home countries’ elections with a few exceptions. However, the results of those elections may not have a direct impact on their lives. Yet the same people as immigrants lack the right to vote in their host countries on issues that are directly affecting their lives. This paradox of representation works neither for migrants nor for democracy. It is time to redefine the current electoral systems with full migrants’ participation because cross-border movement should not be a trade-off for the right to democracy.
Inclusive democracy with full migrant participation is a trend that is growing in strength globally. In France, migrants are contributing to democracy through the Parliament of Exiles. In Poland, a Nigerian-Polish former election candidate is educating African migrants about the importance of voting in the Polish elections. The Migrant Democracy project in the UK is campaigning for residence-based voting rights for migrants. Ireland has been having a public debate on votes for migrants since 2021 and New York City is fighting a legal battle to grant voting rights to migrants in their municipal elections.
The right to vote is the cornerstone of democratic inclusion and it should not depend on citizenship status the same as it should not depend on gender or skin colour. Democratic exclusion of people based on the last two characteristics was repealed and now we see it as a historic oppression. There will come a time when people say in disbelief ‘Can you imagine migrants used to couldn’t vote?’
How to make our democracy inclusive of migrant votes?
As I set high hopes for the democratic evolution granting universal voting rights to migrants there are intermediate actions, we can take to make our democracies more inclusive. Some migrants are citizens of their country of residence and some countries have residence-based voting rights in municipal elections. Let’s capitalise on that by improving support for election candidates of a migrant background and scaling up voter education programs. Those changes bear benefits not only for migrant communities but also for democracy.
The Pew Research Centre ran a survey in 30 countries that found 54% of people are dissatisfied with the current state of democracy. I wonder how the voices of migrants were taken into consideration. Setting aside this ever-present question let’s look at what this poll is telling us further. In almost every country surveyed, better politicians was the most commonly mentioned way to improve democracy. Descriptive representation alongside responsiveness and competence of politicians were named as the desired changes.
However, as they say, you cannot be what you cannot see. This folk wisdom has been confirmed by research. The lack of migrant political role models is one of the causes why people of a migrant background are less likely to enter politics. This Catch-22 nevertheless could be broken if more support were given to those trailblazing migrants who are now writing history as the first of their kind trying to make it in politics. And making it in politics for migrants is hard.
According to research in Ireland, candidates of a migrant background have 62% fewer chances to be elected. In Sweden, they have 28% fewer chances to be successful. Racism at the ballot boxes is the main challenge. However migrant-specific campaigning challenges put those candidates at a further disadvantage. Those additional barriers could be mediated through effective policymaking and support programs. Some of the proposed solutions are internal anti-racist protocols for political parties and clear procedures for law enforcement agencies on how to protect and support candidates targeted by racist political violence. Provision of funding and electoral campaigning training as well as transparency of candidates’ selection processes are also changes that could bring tangible results.
The second investment towards creating an inclusive democracy is improved voter education programs for migrants. There is a mantra repeated amongst political commentators that migrants are not interested in politics. The low voter registration rates among migrant communities may suggest this is the truth. This is not the reality I see on the ground working as a migrant voter educator. Migrants have plenty of interest in politics, what they lack is information and confidence in occupying democratic spaces as migrants.
Increasing voter turnout results in the election of a more representative government and a greater satisfaction in democracy. The same Pew Research Centre survey found that greater participation in elections was considered a desired improvement in democracy.
Voter education programs designed specifically for migrant communities can deliver results. Such programs should increase their outreach capacity, adjust their contents to include migrant perspectives and they should be delivered by a trusted agent. There is a role for migrant-led organisations to become political houses delivering this work. That support however has to be resourced and provided continuously not only during election years.
Migrant electoral participation has been neglected during the super year of elections it is not however a moment to feel defeated. More elections will come and therefore more opportunities to make migrant electoral inclusion a reality.
