Foreign Voters Case
Germany Federal Constitutional Court
83 BVerfGe 37 (1990)
- Written by Mary Katherine Cunningham, JD
Facts
Under Article 20 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, the right to vote was extended to “all Germans.” However, Article 20 of the Basic Law further defined “Germans” as individuals who were German citizens on or before December 1937 and their descendants or individuals improperly stripped of citizenship between January 1933 and May 1945 due to political, racial, or religious policies of the Third Reich and their descendants. Article 20 provided the right to vote only to these individuals born before 1945 and their descendants. Individuals born in Germany after 1945 who lacked German ancestry were not granted the right to vote under Article 20 unless they underwent naturalization. These provisions significantly impacted Turkish immigrants and their German-born children. In 1990, the Election Act of the Federal Republic of Germany was amended to extend the right to vote in municipal elections to German residents, regardless of a voter’s eligibility under Article 20. The Federal Constitutional Court heard a challenge to these amendments.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)
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