Political Participation of Asylum Seekers: Restricted Chances and their Consequences

Political participation of migrants is hampered by various obstacles in all nation-state democracies. Someone who immigrates usually has to acquire the nationality of the host country in order to participate in elections. In special cases, persons with foreign citizenship are allowed to vote at the local level after a certain period of residence. This right also applies to EU foreigners. In all cases, asylum seekers remain completely barred from voting. They are often only entitled to the forms of expression granted within the framework of human rights. The political participation of asylum seekers thus remains very limited. This is particularly serious in cases where the judicial procedures take a very long time and often last for years (such as in Austria). The paper will present the results of a qualitative study in which methods of open interviews and participatory observation were used to analyse the possibilities of participation for asylum seekers, how they are used and how the restrictions affect the relationship of asylum seekers to the host country, their attitude to democracy itself and their quality of life.