Elections in Vienna: controversy over residents of non-Austrian nationality
Nearly 500,000 Viennese will not be able to vote in municipal elections this Sunday because they are not Austrians.
HELMUT FOHRINGER / APA / AFP
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2 min
Municipal elections are being held in Vienna, Austria this Sunday, October 11.
Both city and state, these elections are of capital importance.
However, nearly a third of Viennese will not be able to vote this Sunday because they are not of Austrian nationality.
A serious problem in the eyes of NGOs who have revived the debate in recent days on the right to vote of foreigners.
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With our correspondent in Vienna,
Isaure Hiace
Nearly 500,000 Viennese will not be able to vote in the municipal elections this Sunday.
The reason ?
They are not Austrians.
This figure is important because access to Austrian nationality is difficult and the country does not recognize dual nationality, with rare exceptions.
It is therefore a third of Viennese in all who will be excluded from the vote, like Eugene Quinn, a Briton living in Vienna for 12 years: “
This creates a clear distinction and reminds us that we are not on a Equality.
Integration is something to aim for because it is productive to have engaged citizens who care about where they live, who read the newspapers and know the names of politicians.
But in reality, the system excludes us.
"
This exclusion poses a democratic problem according to Magdalena Stern, of the NGO SOS Mitmensch, in particular for young people: “
Young people between 16 and 24 years old are very strongly affected: they are 72,000 not able to vote in this election.
These are young people who go to school here, who learn what democracy is but cannot put it into practice.
The number of people who were born here, grew up here but are excluded from elections is always greater and this is, in our opinion, a major problem.
"
His NGO therefore decided to organize a campaign where non-Austrians can vote symbolically: more than 1,500 people participated.
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