Importing the Electorate

I haven’t seen any polling on the effect of the immigrant vote on the recent German elections but in the days leading up to the election it was pretty clear that the immigrant vote was going to the leftist parties. Germany has a huge immigration population but until recently these immigrants had limited electoral power. In 1999 the leftist government changed the citizenship law, extending the franchise to many immigrants.

The effect was predictable—a “quiet revolution” in German politics. Every major political party began pandering for the foreigner vote, according to this Reuters story. In the Age of Tolerance, this is regarded as a wonderful development. As the Reuters story makes clear, however, the immigrant vote goes overwhelmingly to the leftist parties. Some on the German right understood the way these things work but attempts to raise immigration as a political issue garnered comparisons to Le Pen and charges of bigotry. And, of course, the left won in last weekend’s election. As Eugene Volokh has said, “Letting in immigrants means letting in your future rulers.”
Posted by at September 25, 2002 12:43 AM | Send