The ongoing debate on voting rights for Egyptians living abroad has been conducted in the light of the enthusiastic participation of Tunisian emigrants in that country's recent elections. But the voting rights accorded to emigrants and expatriates vary considerably around the world. Some countries take pains to ensure that their citizens living abroad are able to vote in national elections, while in other countries emigrants have no right to vote at all. Bikyamasr.com surveys the situation in a number of countries in the region and worldwide. Globally, allowing non-resident citizens to vote in national elections is surprisingly common, according to a 2007 survey by researchers at the University of Sussex in Britain. Of 144 countries for which reliable data could be found, 115, or 80%, allowed citizens resident abroad to participate in elections. And the trend was for more countries to provide for emigrant and expatriate voting. A separate 2007 survey by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Alliances, however, suggests that many of the countries not covered by the Sussex survey do not in fact allow citizens abroad to vote. The ways in which overseas citizens vote and are represented also vary. In some countries these voters are represented in special overseas constituencies, while in others, their votes are counted in their previous place of residence. In some cases, citizens living abroad are allowed to vote but either the law or practical arrangements mean that they must return home to do so. The Sussex University report found that the most common approach by far was allowing emigrants and expatriates to vote from abroad for the candidates standing in their constituencies of origin. This was the system used in 89 of the 115 states that allowed citizens living abroad to vote. There was also a more recent tendency to establish special constituencies to represent overseas voters. This applied in 13, or 9%, of the states for which data was available. According to the Sussex researchers, this approach can be used to prevent the votes of overseas citizens having excessive weight, or to restrict the parliamentary functions of their representatives. Another 13 states only allowed overseas citizens to vote if they returned home to do so. Middle East and North Africa In the recent Tunisian elections, the votes of emigrants in Europe received much attention. The electoral law for the post-revolutionary constituent assembly assigned eighteen of the 217 seats to overseas constituencies. According to news reports, Tunisian emigrants eagerly exercised their right to vote. The only major hitch was in fact an objection from the Canadian government, which initially viewed the designation of Canada as part of a constituency in the Tunisian election as a violation of its sovereignty. Arrangements for Tunisians in Canada to vote at Tunisian consular missions overcame this obstacle. In Iraq's first legislative elections after the 2003 American invasion, polling stations run by the International Organization for Migration were organized for Iraqis living in fourteen foreign countries. Voting was only possible in person. Similar rules applied in the country's 2010 elections, when polling stations were established in sixteen countries in the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia. In Morocco activists have denounced the provisions of the country's new electoral law, which will prevent emigrants voting directly in the upcoming legislative elections. The new constitution fully recognizes the right to vote of Moroccans living abroad to vote, but the electoral law allows them to vote only by proxy. Algeria, whose citizens in France played a prominent role in the country's long struggle for independence, has since 1976 allowed its citizens to vote in home elections by casting their votes at Algerian cultural centres as well as embassies and consulates. They can vote for candidates in their commune of birth or of last residence, or if they were themselves born outside Algeria, the commune of birth of one of their Algerian parents or grandparents. The Lebanese Minister for Foreign Affairs has recently announced steps to allow Lebanese citizens abroad to vote in elections and consulates in the country's 2013 parliamentary elections. Turkey, which has taken great pains to maintain its connection with Turkish residents abroad, particularly guest workers in Germany, officially allows them to vote in Turkish elections. For practical reasons, however, it has never taken any steps to facilitate voting from outside Turkey, and in practice Turkish citizens living abroad can only vote if they return home for the election. Europe Most European countries have some provision for citizens living abroad to vote in national elections. British citizens may vote in elections as long as they were registered to vote in Britain in the previous fifteen years. Even those who were below voting age when they left Britain can still register and vote for up to fifteen years after they moved abroad. Voters can vote by post or they can nominate a proxy to vote on their behalf in Britain. Similar regulations allowing citizens living abroad to vote until they have been out of the country for a specific period, or as long as they intend to return to live in their country of origin, apply in the former British colonies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Italian citizens living abroad can choose to vote for candidates standing either in special overseas constituencies or in the constituencies where they were previously registered to vote in Italy. The special constituencies comprise 12 of the 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 6 of the 322 seats in the Senate. Voters send a postal ballot to their local Italian consulate. Prior to the 2006 elections, Italian emigrants had to return to their local constituency to vote – which those living in nearby states often did in considerable numbers. Caution in some countries with a history of emigration But some countries with large emigrant populations have been wary of giving their emigrants the right to vote. Irish law, for example, only allows citizens who are currently resident in the country to vote. Politicians have long suspected that the votes of those who were forced to emigrate due to poor living standards and high unemployment during most of the twentieth century might be a destabilizing factor. Equally worrying is the prospect of Irish citizens resident in Northern Ireland voting. Most residents of Northern Ireland are also entitled to Irish citizenship, and the Irish body politic has feared that both emigrants and people from Northern Ireland would be more likely to vote for the radical nationalist Sinn Féin party. The sheer numbers involve also cause concern: one campaign website claims that there are as many as three million Irish passport holders living abroad, some one million of whom were born in Ireland. The total population of the Irish state is only 4.6 million. As a result, while there has been discussion in recent years of allowing Irish emigrants to vote at embassies, the voting rights proposed have been either for the less powerful Senate rather than the lower house of parliament, or for the country's symbolic presidency. The conservative Fine Gael party, the larger party in the current coalition, in its manifesto the elections earlier this year proposed allowing emigrants to vote in presidential elections. Since entering government, however, it has not taken any steps to implement this. Emigrants remained disenfranchised in the presidential election that took place in October. Indian citizens living abroad were previously not allowed to vote in Indian elections. However, following new legislation in 2010, they can now cast a vote in person in the constituency where they were ordinarily resident in India, as long as that is the place of residence listed in their Indian passport. Indians who have acquired a second nationality, however, lose the right to vote. Indian community activists abroad have called for citizens' right to vote to be facilitated by allowing them cast a postal or electronic ballot. BM
