Every four years, Brno’s residents go to the polls to choose who runs the city — and this includes foreign residents from other European Union states, if they are registered residents of Brno.
The elections take place on 9–10 October 2026. If you’re an EU or EEA citizen, over 18, and registered for permanent or temporary residence in Brno, you can vote — and you can also run for a seat. That second part tends to get lost: this isn’t just about showing up with an ID card. Foreigners are entitled to be in these decisions, not just adjacent to them.
If you’ve never voted here before, you’ll need to register on the electoral roll at your city district office before 4pm on 7 October. There is an online tool built by foreign residents of Prague (volbyprovsechny.cz) that will prepare the form for you, or you can download it, fill it out, and deliver it — in person, by post, or via datová schránka if you have one — to your local town hall. Brno has 29 of them, one per district.
If you’ve voted before and haven’t moved, you’re already on the roll — just show up on election day with a valid ID.
Why does this matter? Because city councils decide the things that actually shape daily life here — public transport, green spaces, how public works get communicated to residents, how welcoming (or otherwise) the city feels to the thousands of foreigners who live, work, and pay taxes in Brno. In previous Czech municipal elections, turnout among foreign residents has been very low, partly due to the bureaucratic process, and partly because most candidate lists never campaign to this part of the electorate at all.
That’s slowly changing. This year, for example, I’m running for the Brno-střed council myself, precisely because I think this city’s foreign community deserves someone at the table who’s lived that experience. But we can all do something. For now: register, show up, vote. It’s a two-day window, it’s not complicated, and it’s one of the few concrete ways foreigners in this city get to have a say in how Brno is run.
You can find more details on Brno’s elections here: volbyvbrne.cz/en.
