Expats voting rights

[fifi]

Expats to get UK voting rights back?

The thorny issue of expats who have lived away from Britain for many years being unable to vote in home elections is back in the headlines after the European Commission's announcement that it will seek to persuade the UK government to change the rule.



Canary Islands - 25.05.2013 - Presenting the new EU Citizenship Report last week, Commission vice-president Vivienne Reding said she would work on ways for EU nationals to retain their voting rights in their countries of origin regardless of how long they have been living elsewhere in Europe. "The practice in some member states of depriving their citizens of their right to vote once they move to another EU country is effectively tantamount to punishing citizens for having exercised their right to free movement" said Reding. The topic is a particularly hot one in places such as the Canaries, where British residents compare their situation to that of Canarians living abroad who are actively courted by political parties at election time to secure their votes. The "foreign" vote is considered so crucial to the election outcome, particularly in the smaller islands, that one of the main parties regularly sends a delegation to countries such as Venezuela to canvass Canarian expats, many of whom have lived abroad for more than half a century and have never paid taxes here. The announcement by the European Commission has received extensive coverage in the Expat section of the Telegraph: for full details see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/10075984/Europe-throws-a-lifeline-to-British-expats-fighting-to-vote.html.

[Captain Sensible]

I don't want to be able to vote in elections in the UK, but I would like to be able to vote in the Spanish and European elections here, soething wich is not allowed under spanish law. 

For some reason I can only vote in the local council (Ayuntamiento) elections.

[Brightspark]

The sooner the UK leaves the sinking ship the better

[Ronnietheblue]

Steve, can understand what your saying about been able to vote in Spanish elections etc. Must ask tho, as a Brit do you not want to have a vote in British elections, find that hard to believe. All British born citizens must surely have the right to vote, no matter where they live.

[SheilaW]

Hear, hear!

I don't want to be able to vote in elections in the UK, but I would like to be able to vote in the Spanish and European elections here, soething wich is not allowed under spanish law. 

For some reason I can only vote in the local council (Ayuntamiento) elections.

I gave up the right to vote in UK elections in 1993 when I moved to the Netherlands. (@ Ronnie: I haven't paid taxes in the UK for 20 years; I don't follow the intrigues and shenanigans of British politics at all; and who would I vote for anyway? The MP for the place where I last lived? Never been back there and never expect to.) Since leaving, having lived also in France and now in Spain, I've never had the right to vote for anyone except my MEP (yawn! ) and in local elections. I always exercise my right to vote in local elections and take it seriously and I'd love to have a full vote here. It's really galling to pay taxes to the national government yet have absolutely no voting rights. This is MY country, MY government now. Voting is part of integration, which should be encouraged above all else, IMO.

PS Can we really not vote in the European elections? I did in both Holland and France and thought it was a right in all EU countries.

[Captain Sensible]

Just like Sheila, I decided to leave the UK and so I've no interest or willingness to vote in the UK elections.  Any decision taken by the UK Government doesn't affect the way I live here in Fuerteventura. 

I should get a proprtion of my state pension paid from the UK in the future, as I paid my NIE contributions there for 25 years; so that's the only connection that I now have with the UK.