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    Emigrant voting rights: a study of EU nations

    By Noreen Bowden | October 3, 2010

    Europeans Throughout the World has produced a handy chart of emigrant voting rights across the EU that I’ve been meaning to post for quite some time.

    The whole chart is very much worth a look – I’ve just pulled out one section of the data below, the answer to the question of whether expats are allowed to vote at national elections, but the chart also covers such information as means of voting, eligibility to vote for MEPs, special advisory bodies and more. Ireland, of course, is the only country with all “No’s” across the board.

    European Country – Vote at national elections?
    AUSTRIA –  YES
    BELGIUM – YES
    DENMARK  – (YES) but with many restrictions
    ESTONIA – YES
    FINLAND – YES
    FRANCE – YES
    GERMANY  – YES – but only within countries of Council of Europe
    GREECE – NO (subject to change following recent European Court of Human Rights decision)
    IRELAND – NO
    ITALY – YES
    LUXEMBOURG – YES
    SPAIN – YES
    NETHERLANDS – YES
    POLAND – YES
    PORTUGAL – YES
    ROMANIA – YES
    SLOVAKIA – YES
    SWEDEN – YES
    SWISS – YES
    UNITED KINGDOM – YES (Voting right is lost after 15 years abroad – this time limit is being challenged by a Spanish-based UK citizen.)

    See the chart.

    Visit the Europeans Throughout the World website.

    See articles from the archive on emigrant voting.

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