Foreigners' Advisory Council

On March 15, 2026, new elections for the Foreigners' Advisory Council will also be held as part of the local elections.
You can find all relevant information here.

The Hofheim Foreigners' Advisory Council has celebrated its 30th anniversary. According to Haluk Kaya, Chairman of the Foreigners' Advisory Council, the committee's task is to "positively develop coexistence between migrants, refugees and locals in the city." The Foreigners' Advisory Council is always present in the intercultural field - whether at the WiN festival in Hofheim-Nord, the Intercultural Week, the International Women's Meeting or other events. Another focus is the work for refugees.

Mayor Christian Vogt explained that "people from 134 nations are registered in Hofheim. Many Hofheim residents originally come from Turkey, Ukraine, Poland or Croatia. Some also come from Gabon, Iceland or Kuwait. Only a few countries are not registered here - for example, the Vatican. Our district town may not be big - but Hofheim is still a small cosmopolitan city."

The keynote speaker was Minister of State Heike Hofmann, Hesse's Minister for Labor, Integration, Youth and Social Affairs since January. "It's good that our state has become home to so many people from different backgrounds and cultures," said the Minister. "Mutual respect and tolerance are the basis of our coexistence."

The event was attended by many guests of honor, including Susanne Fritsch, Chairwoman of the District Council, Madlen Overdick, First District Councillor, Daniel Philipp, First City Councillor, Andreas Hegeler, Head of the City Council, Enis Gülegen, Chairman of the Hesse Foreigners' Advisory Council, and Atila Karabörklü, Chairman of the Turkish Community of Hesse. The current and former members of the Hofheim Foreigners' Advisory Council were honored on stage.

There are a total of 80 foreigners' advisory councils in Hesse. All foreign residents are entitled to vote. Germans who have acquired a German passport through naturalization are eligible but not entitled to vote. The next Foreigners' Advisory Council election in Hofheim will take place in 2026 together with the local elections. The committee has nine members.

On March 14, 2021, 4,411 foreign citizens in Hofheim were called upon to vote for the Foreigners' Advisory Council. 540 of them, or 12.24 percent, cast their vote.

Nine candidates from the Hofheim International List (HIL), which was the only party to submit a nomination, were elected in the following order:

Benita Garcia Calvino de Alix
Ulrich Heep
Haluk Kaya
Amina Mesic
Veysi Mardin
Nimet Aydin
Yasemin Cakir
Raminullah Mohabat
Manal Abou Kaadan

540 voters cast their votes for the election to the Foreigners' Advisory Council in the district town of Hofheim on March 14, which corresponds to a voter turnout of 12.24 percent out of 4,411 eligible voters.
This puts the town of Hofheim slightly above the state average, which is given as 10.5 percent. As in many cities and municipalities, voter turnout has increased: in the 2015 election, the voter turnout in Hofheim was 4.13% with 156 voters.