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India
With Germany set to go to polls this weekend, many people who came to the country as migrants will vote for the first time to elect a new parliament that will determine how the Western European nation is run for the next four years.
On Thursday evening, Chancellor candidates Christian Lindner (FDP), Alice Weidel (AfD), Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) and Jan van Aken (Left Party) as well as representatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU), the Social Democrats (SPD), and the Green Party took to the stage to partake discussions in what was seen as “The Final Round” of the debate on major issues including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the NATO, conscription and healthcare policy, among others.
According to German state-owned broadcaster DW, the right-wing opposition parties have been leading in the polls with the CDU believed to have garnered around 30 percent support ratings followed by the AFD with around 20 percent backing.
Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left party (SPD), meanwhile, was polling in third place with 15 percent approval ratings, while its coalition partner – the Green Party – stood fourth with a little over 13 percent support.
With the migrants in Europe’s biggest and most populous economy slated to vote for the first time on February 23, here’s what to expect:
- More than half a million newly naturalized citizens will have the opportunity to cast their ballots in a German national election for the first time.
- Almost a third of the new Germans – originally from Syria – left their home countries in the last decade, fleeing war, political and economic instability, the Associated Press reported, adding that in 2015-2016 alone, over a million migrants entered Germany, with the most entries recorded from Syria, but also from Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Since 2021, the year during which the last national election in Germany took place, there’s been a sharp rise in the number of naturalisations with over 500,000 people naturalised between 2021 and 2023, the report further mentioned, citing Germany’s Federal Statistical Office.
- According to experts’ estimates, more than 2,50,000 people were naturalized in Germany in 2024.
- Many of the new citizens who spoke to the news agency ahead of the vote have expressed a mix of emotions with some emphasising on the feeling of empowerment about their voting rights and others voicing a hope for change.
Some others, on the other hand, have expressed deep concerns over the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD party).
For the new German residents who were originally from Syria, the upcoming election holds extra significance, especially given that most of them have had to flee their country on account of the civil war that followed former president Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters seeking more democratic freedom.
