• The Participation Paradox: Why Political Trust Doesn’t Always Translate Into Votes

    The Participation Paradox: Why Political Trust Doesn’t Always Translate Into Votes

    Research published earlier this year by researchers at the University of St Andrews as part of the European We-ID project found a striking pattern: across Europe, immigrants tend to have greater trust in political institutions and higher levels of satisfaction with democracy than native-born populations. But the longer they and their families live in their new countries, the smaller that difference…

  • The Berlin Election Is Over – The Work Begins

    The Berlin Election Is Over – The Work Begins

    What do the Berlin election results tell us? Our TOP 3 takeaways 1. Housing won Housing is clearly the central issue in Berlin, as StimmlosTrend also showed. Die Linke won by putting housing at the top of its agenda. Many citizens now hope they can deliver. 2. Voting with gloves Many people vote against a party or candidate rather than for…

  • Two birthdays, one dream for Berlin

    Two birthdays, one dream for Berlin

    WahlheYmat was launched as an initiative on 15 September 2023, with Democracy Day providing the occasion. So this week, we turn three years old. Some international Berliners, including our co-founders, asked the question: If Berlin has become diverse and international, wouldn’t it be better to govern the city together? We had almost a hundred conversations with very different people about this…

  • StimmlosTrend 2026: 96 Percent Would Vote If They Could

    StimmlosTrend 2026: 96 Percent Would Vote If They Could

    Around one million people living in Berlin do not hold a German passport, 851,000 of whom are adults. They cannot vote in elections to the Berlin House of Representatives – and their political views are therefore largely absent from traditional election polling. WahlheYmat created StimmlosTrend 2026 to make these perspectives visible. Inspired by the BerlinTrend conducted by Infratest dimap, the survey…

  • No German Passport? You May Still Have a Vote in Berlin 

    No German Passport? You May Still Have a Vote in Berlin 

    If you are an EU citizen living in Berlin but do not have German citizenship, you cannot vote in the election for Berlin’s House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus). But you can vote for your local District Assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, or BVV) if you meet the eligibility requirements. Around 240,000 non-German EU citizens are eligible to take part in Berlin’s BVV elections on September…

  • The Signature That Didn’t Count – Finding My Voice in Berlin

    The Signature That Didn’t Count – Finding My Voice in Berlin

    When I moved to Berlin in the spring of 2022, I was approached one sunny afternoon by people carrying clipboards under their arms. Would I like to sign a petition? I was pleasantly surprised by this request – such a sense of community in Berlin, what a place to have come to live. With a Spätibier in my hand and surrounded…

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