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MER Migrant Electoral Rights dataset
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MER_Dataset.csv (11.56 MB)
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20250905_MER_Factbook.pdf (3.52 MB)
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20250905_MER_Codebook.pdf (1.91 MB)
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EUI; RSC; Research Data; 2025
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UMPIERREZ DE REGUERO, Sebastián, WEGSCHAIDER, Klaudia, BAUBÖCK, Rainer, MER Migrant Electoral Rights dataset, EUI, RSC, Research Data, 2025 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/93661
Abstract
Suffrage is a central element of democracy. Over time, electoral rights have increasingly become available to migrants—both as non-citizen residents and as non-resident citizens. However, existing datasets either focus on only one of those categories, exclude candidacy rights, or have limited temporal and geographic scope. The GLOBALCIT Dataset of Migrant Electoral Rights (MER) is the most comprehensive dataset on migrant suffrage to date. MER covers voting and candidacy rights for both non-citizen residents and non-resident citizens. The coding differentiates between different types (legislative, executive, referendum) and levels (local, regional, national) of elections, as well as a range of eligibility, access, and modality conditions attached to these rights. Overall, the dataset contains up to 488 indicators across 165 countries from 1960 to 2020. By offering unparalleled data coverage and transparency, MER facilitates the study of global trends in the political inclusion and exclusion of migrants, thus contributing to comparative political science, migration studies, and electoral policy analysis.
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Data sources: The dataset’s information is compiled from multiple sources. Wherever possible, it relies on the relevant legal texts, such as constitutions and electoral laws. For earlier periods or where legal documents were unavailable online, we used additional sources, including electoral authorities, secondary literature, and input from country experts. To ensure transparency, we accompany our dataset with a Factbook of roughly 400 pages. This additional documentation covers all countries in our sample in alphabetical order. For each country, we first provide a general overview of the electoral structure, clarifying the relevant levels and types of election. We then specify for which years, if any, electoral rights were available for non-citizen residents and non-resident citizens. Finally, we specify the conditions attached to these rights. Whenever possible, we direct readers to additional secondary sources for each country. This transparent documentation will not only allow for replications of our work but also serves as a valuable starting point for case studies and small-N comparisons.