Elections in Germany: Syrian refugees who entered the country thanks to Merkel now vote for her successor

Tarek Saad wants to help others Syrian refugees who fled their homeland to escape the war to build a new home in Germany and considers the federal elections September 26th is an opportunity to do just that.

Saad is campaigning for the Social Democrats (SPD), the party he joined in 2016, in the Baltic state of Schleswig-Holstein, where he settled in 2014 when he arrived in Germany from Syria and survived two gunshot wounds.

“I thought that the things that make my life difficult should torment others as well. “In order to overcome them as soon as possible, one must join a political party,” says the 28-year-old political science student.

“Our parents lived under a completely different political system for many years (in Syria) (…) this is an opportunity to develop a new generation in Germany“, Explains Saad, who like many other immigrants will vote in these elections for the first time as a German citizen.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open the country’s borders to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in 2015 was one of the key issues in the campaign for the previous federal elections in 2017.

However, not all immigrants who have acquired German citizenship are so clear in their political views.

“I am happy to be given this opportunity, but I am careful and I may not vote,” said Maher Obaid, 29, who lives in the town of Zingen near the border with Switzerland.

Obaid received German citizenship in 2019 and explains that his hesitation is due to the lack of a clear position on some foreign policy issues that the parties have shown, especially regarding the issue of Syria.

Participation

The number of Syrians who have received German citizenship increased by 74% in 2020 and reached 6,700, according to official statistics. The total number of Syrian refugees in Germany is estimated to be much higher, more than 700,000, but acquiring citizenship takes time and effort.

A 2020 survey by the Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) concluded that only 65% ​​of foreigners who have obtained German citizenship voted in 2017, compared to 86% of local Germans.

Socio-economic status and language level were two of the factors that determined immigrants’ participation in the elections, as well as their salary, according to the survey.

“The longer one stays in Germany (…) the more likely one is to feel that one understands and can participate in political life,” he said.

Historically, immigrants from southern Europe and Turkey who went to Germany to work considered the SPD to be the party that best represented their interests, according to research by the DIW research institute.

On the contrary, the Syrians were more likely to support Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), who defined Germany’s immigration policy in 2013-2016, when the majority of Syrian refugees arrived in the country.

“But with Merkel leaving politics after 16 years, many Syrians are changing their minds,” the DIW notes.

“Syrians should look smart (…) What Merkel did was right, but what will her successor do?” Asked Abdulaziz Ramadan, head of a Leipzig immigrant integration organization who became a German citizen in 2019.

An unofficial poll among a group of Syrian refugees on Facebook showed that most will now prefer the SPD, with the Greens following. The third most popular answer was “I do not care”.

“Mahmoud al-Kutaifan, a doctor living in Freiburg, is one of the few Syrians who became citizens of Germany in time to vote in the 2017 elections.

Although he has not regretted his decision, now he, like many other Germans, is thinking about the post-Merkel era and is not sure which party he will choose this time. “The election date is approaching, but I honestly have not decided yet,” he said.