For more than 25 years, we have been campaigning for a strong migrant council to be established in the city of Leipzig, and one which gains its legitimacy by being elected by migrants themselves.

In 2008, the City Council decided to set up a Migrant Council with appointed members. In 2014 it stipulated that the members of this council should be elected by all migrants living in Leipzig. Since then, a debate about the design of the electoral process has been ongoing.

In 2018, the Migrant Council presented its proposals for an electoral procedure. The city administration, however, now proposes that only half of the migrant council members – those without German citizenship – should be elected in this way. Naturalised individuals with German citizenship, on the other hand, would continue to be appointed, i.e. selected by the administration.

We believe that all migrant members of the Migrant Council - both those with and without German citizenship - should obtain their legitimacy via the same election. This would remedy a democratic deficit by also allowing foreigners excluded from local elections to vote in the body that represents their interests in the city. Naturalised councillors would also be selected by a democratic electoral act. We do not support the division of migrant councillors into those who are elected and those who are appointed.