Yo I’m not running this time so I can give you a breakdown of what it’s about.
What do they do?
Munich’s Migration Advisory Council represents the interests of people with a „Migrationshintergrund“ – migration background. Migrants and dual citizens. It’s existed since 1974 and consists of 40 members, half the size of Munich’s city council. The last election was 2023, but starting in 2026 it goes back to its regular rhythm of every six years.
The MAB has around €200,000 annually to fund projects. They’ve mostly funded cultural festivals like the annual Festival of Cultures in Westpark in July. They also submit proposals to the city on behalf of us foreigners – and the thing is, we can vote for them, and we generally can’t vote for the regular city or district council etc. And yet: turnout was only 3.1% in 2023, of nearly half of Munich being eligible to vote!
Starting in 2023, the regular German parties could have affiliated lists of people running. Before that, the candidates were mostly in nationally-organized groups like „Aktiv für die rumänische Community“ or „ATLAS Türkisch-Internationale Union“, which never felt relevant to me personally. It’s not easy to find out what each list stands for – they don’t all have a website or even any social media presence, but I’ve done my best below. Better than just looking at the names on the list and judging by their presumed national origin…
The Beirat could do so much more than just be a collection of people elected based on their national origins. Currently, the committees regularly don’t have enough attendees to make quorum, so they can’t legally make decisions! We need people to get voted in who’re doing it because they want to be involved in politics and really show up, not just get elected and then forget about the whole thing. We need them to be able to deliver press releases in a timely fashion on issues other than racially-motivated hate crimes – they’ve never issued a press release on the importance of bicycles to migrants‘ mobility and how women who’re refugees learn to ride a bike in Munich for the first time in their lives, experiencing the low-cost freedom that a bike delivers!
More info about the Migrationsbeirat is here: https://integreat.app/muenchen/en/migration-advisory-board-next-election-on-22-november-2026/what-is-the-migration-advisory-board
2023 election results are here to see how the parties were spread then.
Register for Briefwahl here! Only in German, you need the big number from the Wahlbenachrichtigung.
„Regular“ foreigners have been sent voting materials automatically – that’s the Wahlbenachrichtigung – but anyone who’s granted German citizenship gets automatically removed from the Migrationsbeirat voter rolls! „Regular“ Germans with more than one citizenship were never added!
The easiest way to ensure you can vote is to fill out the PDF here: Antrag – Aufnahme ins Wählerverzeichnis, sign it (pasting a scan of your signature worked fine for me), and email it to briefwahl.kvr@muenchen.de by November 6.
(They added the email method to this page literally after I suggested it. Yay! Systems can be changed! And yes, the Briefwahl address seems to be the same as wahlamt.kvr…)
The election lists are generally independent of any party but historically have been mostly nationality-based – I guess those with more nationalities are more about principles. In 2023 there were two different CSU-affiliated lists, this time there’s only one, there’ll probably be more consolidation in the future as it’s easier to expand on an established party brand than to create your own identity as a list that only exists in one place… I counted at least five lists that ran in 2023 and aren’t running now, but they may have renamed themselves.
| Nr. | Name | # | Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Achtsam.Vielfältig.Sozialdemokratisch SPD-nahe Liste | 21 | 14 nationalities (Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Cameroonian, Iranian, Lebanese, Kosovan, Syrian, Turkish, Russian, Croatian, Ukrainian, British, Greek, French, Bolivian) |
| 2 | Across Borders – Aufbruch für München | 12 | 8 nationalities (Afghan, Croatian, Thai, Moldovan, Indian, Pakistani, French, Ukrainian) |
| 3 | AGORA ISAR MULTICULTURAL | 8 | 7 nationalities (Turkish, Indian, Greek, Brazilian, Egyptian, Iranian, Filipino) |
| 4 | AKORD International | 17 | 4 nationalities (Romanian, Russian, Canadian, Georgian) |
| 5 | AKTIV | 15 | 1 nationality (Turkish) |
| 6 | AKTIV & BUNT für MÜNCHEN | 20 | 5 nationalities (Turkish, Japanese, Kosovan, Spanish, Romanian) |
| 7 | Aktiv Bürgerlich International – Die Christsozialen CSU-nahe Liste | 40 | 20 nationalities (Bulgarian, Iranian, Indian, Turkish, Italian, Serbian, Albanian, Iraqi, French, Ukrainian, Romanian, American, Hungarian, Polish, Jordanian, Moldovan, Greek, Croatian, Slovenian, Austrian) |
| 8 | Aktiv für die rumänische Community | 13 | 1 nationality (Romanian) |
| 9 | Alerta – Liste für ein solidarisches Miteinander Unabhängige / linke Bündnisliste | 19 | 16 nationalities (Ugandan, Mexican, Jordanian, Peruvian, Nigerian, Croatian, Italian, French, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Venezuelan, British, Polish, Syrian, American, Ukrainian, Austrian) |
| 10 | Albanische Liste | 14 | 3 nationalities (Kosovan, Albanian, Swiss) |
| 11 | Asia Netzwerk München | 3 | 2 nationalities (Republic of Korea, Chinese) |
| 12 | ATLAS Türkisch-Internationale Union | 16 | 5 nationalities (Turkish, Tunisian, Azerbaijani, Iraqi, French) |
| 13 | Azadi | 19 | 4 nationalities (Iraqi, Afghan, Iranian, Polish) |
| 14 | Azadiya Kurdistan | 4 | 4 nationalities (Iraqi, Turkish, Iranian, Syrian) |
| 15 | CASA LATINOAMERICA | 14 | 10 nationalities (Spanish, Romanian, Cuban, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Bolivian, Brazilian, Argentine, Portuguese) |
| 16 | Democratic Alliance for Rights & Equality | 14 | 10 nationalities (+ 1 candidate with no specification but actually Palestinian) (Brazilian, Jordanian, Mexican, Colombian, Turkish, Cameroonian, Indian, Ugandan, Spanish, Nigerian) |
| 17 | Ezidische Gemeinschaft München – Gemeinsam für Integration und Zusammenhalt | 3 | 1 nationality (Iraqi) |
| 18 | Gemeinsam für München – Yalla zusammen | 14 | 4 nationalities (Egyptian, Belgian, Tunisian, Syrian) |
| 19 | Griechische Liste | 21 | 1 nationality (Greek) |
| 20 | Grüne Vielfalt München Bündnis 90/Die Grünen-nahe Liste | 28 | 24 nationalities (American, Romanian, Peruvian, Liberian, Indian, Senegalese, Colombian, Brazilian, Ugandan, Afghan, Swedish, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Hungarian, Burmese, Somali, Ukrainian, Mexican, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, Syrian, Russian, French, Irish) |
| 21 | International Migrants of Munich | 8 | 1 nationality (Indian) |
| 22 | Kurdistan | 14 | 4 nationalities (Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian) |
| 23 | Liberale Vielfalt München FDP-nahe Liste | 14 | 10 nationalities (Hungarian, Uzbek, Russian, British, Ukrainian, Spanish, Swiss, Nigerian, Polish, Brazilian) |
| 24 | Linke Liste – international, solidarisch, migrantisch Die Linke-nahe Liste / linke Bündnisliste | 13 | 7 nationalities (Turkish, American, Afghan, Peruvian, Dutch, Romanian, Austrian) |
| 25 | Lista Italiana | 17 | 1 nationality (Italian) |
| 26 | Migranten in München Explicitly emphasizes Spanish speakers | 18 | 11 nationalities (Mexican, Bolivian, Peruvian, Colombian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Polish, Turkish, Ecuadorian, Croatian, Venezuelan, Spanish) |
| 27 | München ONE | 14 | 1 nationality (Indian) |
| 28 | Somali München Kultur, Bildung & Gemeinschaft | 3 | 1 nationality (Somali) |