Vote in Berlin tomorrow with your EU passport, 270,000 eligible
Berlin votes tomorrow, Sunday 20 September, and one part of the ballot is open to people who do not hold a German passport. If you are a citizen of another European Union country and you live in Berlin, you can vote for your district assembly, the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung. More than 270,000 EU citizens across the twelve districts are entitled to take part.
Two conditions apply. You must be at least 16 years old, and your main residence must have been registered in Berlin since 20 June at the latest, which is three months before polling day. If you meet both, you are on the electoral roll and you should have received a polling notification by post.
Be clear about what this does and does not cover, because both votes happen at the same polling station on the same day. The Abgeordnetenhaus, the state parliament that governs the city, is open only to German citizens. The district assemblies are different. There are twelve of them, one for each Berlin district, each with 55 members. They decide matters close to where you live, including local planning, schools, parks, youth and social services, and how district budgets are spent.
The gap between the two electorates is large. About 2.5 million people can vote for the state parliament. About 2.75 million can vote for the district assemblies. Most of that quarter of a million difference is EU citizens.
You can also stand for election yourself. EU citizens aged 18 and over are eligible to be candidates for a district assembly on the same terms as German citizens.
Polling stations are open from 08:00 to 18:00. Bring your polling notification and an identity document. If the notification did not arrive, you can still vote at the polling station listed for your address, so it is worth checking rather than assuming you are excluded.
The city publishes information about the district assembly vote in eight European languages. If you miss this one, the next chance comes in five years.