Italian government denies right to vote to immigrants
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Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has declared that granting the right to vote to regular immigrants is not included in the goverment’s plans. This put an end to the spars in the governing coalition regarding this topic.
A couple of days ago, Mr Fini of the National Alliance suggested giving limited voting rights for some immigrants- those who do their duty and and pay taxes should be granted the right to vote in administrative elections. This sparked a furious response from Mr Bossi of the far-right Northern League, which takes a tough position against immigration. Mr Bossi declared that such a concession “is wrong; it is not what the people want”. Berlusconi closed the argument stating that the right to vote for immigrants is not in the government’s future plans.
The Italian constitution currently grants the right to vote only to Italian citizens; in order to apply for Italian citizenship, immigrants must be resident in Italy for at least ten years.
Mr Fini’s suggestion was met with surprise from many other members of his own party, which has never been known for its liberal views towards migrants. As a matter of fact, he and Mr Bossi co-authored a law last year cracking down on illegal immigration, and his comments on the possible right to vote surprised many observers, while the centre-left opposition and some unions welcomed the proposal.
In my opinion, political participation is a right everybody should be able to exercise. It seems difficult to justify democratically that many immigrants in Italy do their duty, paying taxes, and do not have their rights, specifically the right to vote, recognised; they cannot have a say in the choice of people who are going to influence their lives, their work, the education of their children. Denying immigrants the right to vote creates an acute inequality with respect to nationals.
It is inconsistent to speak of the intention to integrate immigrants in our society if at the same time they are denied the right to participate in politics. The vote is a part of integration. We can not expect someone to feel comfortable, to be responsible and to integrate in this society when we do not allow them to participate fully and to take decisions about its future.
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