Does not want any change

Ludwig: Only citizens should be allowed to vote

Mayor Michael Ludwig: "Voting rights should remain citizenship rights."(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Even though more than a third of Viennese are not entitled to vote due to a lack of Austrian citizenship, Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) does not want to change the right to vote.

Two years ago, the Vienna SPÖ already came to the conclusion "that the right to vote, especially for legislative bodies, should remain a right of citizenship", said Ludwig on Monday on the fringes of a press conference on the photovoltaic capacities of the federal capital. However, it was essential to review the economic framework conditions. Some professional groups are excluded from even aspiring to Austrian citizenship simply because of their income situation.

The entrance to a polling station in a Viennese school.(Bild: APA/ROLAND SCHLAGER)

"I'm thinking in particular of the care sector or the cleaning service. The vast majority of people there don't earn enough to earn 1100 euros net per month after deducting all fixed costs such as rent and energy costs." It is a challenge of social justice, said Ludwig. "We need care workers just as urgently and just as much as people who work in other professions."

NGOs organize "Pass Egal Wahl"
Human rights organizations also criticize income-related and bureaucratic hurdles in the granting of Austrian passports. With a naturalization rate of less than 0.7 percent, Austria is one of the worst performers in Europe, explained SOS Mitmensch spokesperson Alexander Pollak recently. SOS Mitmensch has announced its intention to hold a symbolic "Pass Egal Wahl" in Vienna together with cooperation partners, in which people without Austrian citizenship can also cast their vote for the parties running for office in Vienna.