Germany's 2021 election – the diverse lawmakers making history

From Frankfurt straight into the Bundestag: Armand Zorn is one of 104 new SPD members of parliament.

At 735 members, Germany's newly elected Bundestag is the largest it has ever been. But it is also becoming more diverse. More members of parliament come from ethnic minorities. It's a historic opportunity. By Lisa Hanel

By Lisa Hänel

When Armand Zorn (see above) first set foot in the plenary chamber of the German parliament, he felt a profound sense of humility. "I'm well aware of the special responsibility that I now have," he said. Born in Cameroon, Zorn came to Germany when he was 12 years old. Now he is an elected member of the Bundestag for his party, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

Last Sunday's election has made the parliament in which he will now serve much more representative of German society as a whole. "Yesterday, we had our first parliamentary group meeting," Zorn said. "And it was plain to see that it was a very diverse gathering. Diverse in terms of people's backgrounds and roots. But also in terms of gender, biography, and profession."

A survey carried out by Mediendienst Integration (Migration Media Service) shows that at least 83 of the newly elected members of the Bundestag have a migrant background. Currently, about 26%of the German population have a migration history in their families. This means that either they themselves or at least one parent were not born with German citizenship.

Die neue #SPD-Bundestagsfraktion ist jünger, weiblicher und vielfältiger. Bei den @BNBundestag #Top50Progressives ging es genau darum. Ich bin froh euch jetzt in der @spdbt kennen lernen zu dürfen: @ArmandZorn, @_sanaeabdi, @ReemAlabali, @HakanDemirNK ✌️ pic.twitter.com/U9P8JRIcku

— Rasha Nasr (@rasha_nasr_) September 28, 2021

"We're seeing a positive trend when it comes to diversity as manifested in the Bundestag," agreed Deniz Nergiz, the executive director of the Federal Immigration and Integration Council. "And what's even more positive is that within that group there's a further shift towards more diversity. There are for instance more Afro-German politicians. And more MPs with Turkish roots."

Parties on the left are more diverse

The figures show that at least 11.3% of MPs are from migrant communities – that's an increase of three percentage points from the parliament elected in 2017. According to the Migration Media Service survey, it is the socialist Left Party that has the highest proportion of parliamentarians with migrant backgrounds: 28.2%. At the bottom end of the table is the conservative Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union alliance, with just 4.6%.

Im neuen #Bundestag sitzen mehr Abgeordnete mit #Migrationshintergrund.

Mindestens 83 Abgeordnete oder 11,3 Prozent. Stark gestiegen ist der Anteil bei der Linken und der SPD. ABER: In einigen Parteien ist der Anteil gesunken. Mehr zur Recherche ➡️➡️ https://t.co/gGOlfezS0R

— Mediendienst Integration (@MDIntegration) September 29, 2021

The neoliberal Free Democrats had the second lowest, at 5.4%, and 7.2% of lawmakers for the Alternative for Germany, a party that often advocates for policies hostile to immigration, had migrant backgrounds.

The SPD is in the second spot on the list, with 17% of parliamentarians with a migration background. Zorn said the positive trend did not surprise him: "I believe that it's part of a trend. All the parties have to open up. We aren't yet where we need to be. But I think the parties now understand that."

It is an assessment that is shared by Deniz Nergiz, who wrote her doctoral thesis, 'I Long for Normality: A Study on German Parliamentarians with Migration Backgrounds', in 2013: "The political parties have created more space for people who have a migrant biography. And they've done so not just by supporting them as candidates for individual constituencies but also by putting them high up on the lists of party candidates, which significantly boosts their chances of getting a seat in parliament."

This was not the case in past decades. Instead, candidates with a history of migration often ended up at the bottom of the state lists, with little chance of making it into the Bundestag. That has changed.

More opportunities and more recognition

Armand Zorn has just experienced a long and tough election campaign. He spoke about the many hours he spent in his constituency, going door-to-door. But, he said, it was well worth the effort. In his home city of Frankfurt, he managed to win one of the two direct seats up for contention, the other going to Omid Nouripour of the Green party.

"It bodes well for Frankfurt and for Germany. Omid Nouripour came here from Iran as a 13-year-old. I came to Germany from Cameroon when I was 12," Zorn said: "And it makes us really proud that we've both managed to win a direct seat." What's more, it makes him, "confident for the future because it demonstrates that our society is a diverse society, where the question isn't where are you from, but where are you going?"

Zorn spoke about all the positive experiences that he has had in recent weeks: "What I really enjoyed during the election campaign was that the focus wasn't always on the colour of my skin. It wasn't all about me being dark-skinned. About being Black. Instead, it was about my personality. It was about my expertise in the fields of digitisation, business and finance. What people to know was: what could I get done?"

You may also like: Spotlight on bridge-builders: Omid Nouripour

The priority, Nergiz said, is to stop seeing politicians with a migration background as victims but instead as "absolutely normal politicians with special competence in a whole variety of fields."

And, indeed, it has been precisely these parliamentarians who have made such a significant contribution to ensuring that migration-related topics have been treated with more sensitivity and more understanding in the Bundestag. When it comes to talking about conditions in an asylum hostel, for instance, politicians are "probably going to respond very differently to a fellow parliamentarian who actually grew up in that kind of environment," Nergiz said.

Hallo, mein Name ist Sanae Abdi und ich bin SPD-Bundestagsabgeordnete. #brandnewbundestag https://t.co/ul8ONYNdoT

— Sanae Abdi (@_sanaeabdi) September 28, 2021

A new generation

At 33, Zorn is among the younger members of parliament. Nergiz said that was typical for the newly elected lawmakers: "If you study the party lists, you find that there are a lot of young men and women from migrant communities who can already look back on impressive careers."

One example is 34-year-old Sanae Abdi from Cologne. She has been an active member of the SPD for 12 years and is the chairperson of the local division of her party. "The new generation has a lot of advantages compared with the first or second generation of migrants," Nergiz said. "Most of them have grown up in the German educational system. So, they know how to establish new networks, including cross-party networks, that help them in their careers."

Seit zwölf Jahren gehört Aydan Özoğuz dem Deutschen Bundestag an. Schon bald könnte sie das höchste Amt im Parlament bekleiden, heißt es aus SPD-Kreisen.https://t.co/OvP2DdBUIM

— Tagesspiegel (@Tagesspiegel) September 28, 2021

Armand Zorn has the backing of a group called Brand New Bundestag. It is an initiative made up of civil society activists, who came together to support 11 first-time candidates in the election campaign — both financially and logistically. And three of them did indeed make it into parliament.

There are still hurdles

Despite the positive developments, Nergiz has no doubt that many hurdles lie ahead. She points to the case of Tareq Alaows, who stood down as a candidate for the Greens after being subjected to massive racist abuse.

"It's the kind of thing that many people from migrant communities experience," Nergiz said. "Their fears are justified. And it's understandable when they withdraw as candidates. Unfortunately, the political parties haven't so far come up with a way of making sure that racism doesn't prevent people from getting involved in politics."

Nergiz said it remained to be seen whether the positive trend will be sustained in the new Bundestag and whether issues such as participation, inclusion and representation would have a concrete impact. Whether or not that might happen could begin to become clear as soon as coalition negotiations get underway and above all when it comes to the question of who gets what job in the new assembly.

One key point might be the question of who becomes the next speaker of parliament. One person widely viewed as a serious contender for this highly influential post is Aydan Ozoguz of the Social Democrats, the German government's former minister of state for migration, refugees and integration.

Lisa Hanel