The Forgotten Electorate: Analysing Language Accessibility and Non-Citizen Voting Participation in Rotterdam

Due to its large foreign population, the Netherlands has since 1985 extended the right to participation in local elections to non-citizen residents within the country on order to stimulate the integration process. This has been especially important for the City of Rotterdam which for decades been home to one of the most diverse populations within the Netherlands and is often referred to as an example of super-diversity. Despite the however, the municipal authorities in Rotterdam has been reluctant to embrace its diversity and instead employed policies aimed at promoting dutchness, owing mostly to the political influence of the right-wing party Leefbaar Rotterdam. Arguing that this attitude towards diversity has affected the municipality approach to language diversity as well, this thesis will examine the language practises of the municipality in producing voting information in English in and around the 2018 municipal elections. To substantiate this argument, several forms of voting information together with an interview with one of the leading election officials will be examined by using an adapted form of qualitative content analysis looking at the use of language. The thesis finds that the right wing political legacy has had a great effect on the availability of voting information in Rotterdam and has continued to do so during the 2018 municipal election.