This year sees a rather unusual election take place. Apart from electing a new Mayor on 21st June, 2015, Oberursel will also be holding elections for all 9 seats on the Ausländerbeirat – the foreigners’ advisory council.
The election itself will take place on Sunday, 29th November, 2015 and for the first time it will be possible to apply for a postal vote. But for now, the town are looking for candidates and are holding an information evening for anyone interested on Wednesday, 6th May at 6pm in the town hall.
To stand for election, candidates need to be 18 years old and have lived for at least 6 months in the town. They either need to be a foreign national, hold dual-nationality. Foreign nationals who have take German citizenship are also eligible as candidates, even if they cannot vote in the election themselves. Elections take place every 5 years and the meetings are held in German, so although it is not strictly speaking a requirement to speak the language fluently, it is definitely an advantage.
The council is intended to give political representation to those who do not otherwise have voting rights, although there is some overlap as nationals of EU countries have the right to vote both in this and other local elections. As of last year, they are now able to table motions directly to the town council.
In the light of recent events in Germany, such as the Pegida demonstrations and the large numbers of refugees arrived in the country and indeed in Oberursel itself, Mayor Hans-Georg Brum is eager to encourage foreigners in the town to get involved in local politics, saying that integration in education and social life is more important now than ever before.
The information evening is being held in the “Kleiner Sitzungssaal” which is located on the ground floor.
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