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Can any EU citizen vote in the UK General Election?

jzeejzee Posts: 25,498
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Saw on CNN piece on the election that the reporter claimed that all EU citizens living or working in the UK can vote in the General Election, yet I'm pretty sure people I know who live in France, Italy and Spain cannot vote in those countries general elections, so why the inbalance:confused:?

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    jmclaughjmclaugh Posts: 64,015
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    Afaik unless you are a British citizen you can't vote in a GE, hence Mrs Clegg can't.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,606
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    No.

    EU citizen living / working in UK can vote in local elections, not General Elections.

    The exception is citizens of Irish Republic, who can vote if resident here.

    Also Commonwealth citizens resident here can vote.
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    RaferRafer Posts: 14,231
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    British citizens living or working in the EU (or further) can. But EU nationals can't.
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    jzeejzee Posts: 25,498
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    philliph wrote: »
    No.

    EU citizen living / working in UK can vote in local elections, not General Elections.
    Pretty misleading CNN reporting then:rolleyes:, they asked a polish guy in a deli whether he was interested in the election and discussed the party leaders, then stated "people may not realise that any EU citizen can vote in the UK general election".
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,606
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    jzee wrote: »
    Pretty misleading CNN reporting then:rolleyes:, they asked a polish guy in a deli whether he was interested in the election and discussed the party leaders, then stated "people may not realise that any EU citizen can vote in the UK general election".

    Pretty standard reporting - from almost any media outlet.
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    mpk81mpk81 Posts: 935
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    Rafer wrote: »
    British citizens living or working in the EU (or further) can. But EU nationals can't.

    As Philliph said,
    Cypriots, Maltese and Irish can vote in UK General elections.
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    grassmarketgrassmarket Posts: 33,010
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    mpk81 wrote: »
    As Philliph said,
    Cypriots, Maltese and Irish can vote in UK General elections.

    Yes, as I said in another thread, these are exceptions that predate the EU.
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    jzeejzee Posts: 25,498
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    mpk81 wrote: »
    As Philliph said,
    Cypriots, Maltese and Irish can vote in UK General elections.
    Philiph said "Commonwealth citizens", does that include citizens of any country in the Commonwealth outside Europe i.e. Canada, Australia, NZ, Kenya etc?
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    domedome Posts: 55,878
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    Local elections not general.
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    mad_dudemad_dude Posts: 10,670
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    Nick cleggs wife cant.
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    mpk81mpk81 Posts: 935
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    jzee wrote: »
    Philiph said "Commonwealth citizens", does that include citizens of any country in the Commonwealth outside Europe i.e. Canada, Australia, NZ, Kenya etc?

    Yes

    http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/who_can_register_to_vote.aspx
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 8,893
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    dome wrote: »
    Local elections not general.
    Yup. And European.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,799
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    I guess the principle is that no-one should be able to vote in more than one national election in Europe.

    So EU citizens resident in the UK can only vote in their home countries. Commonwealth citizens can also only vote once in Europe (ie in the UK). Non-Commonwealth citizens resident in the UK (or anywhere else) can't vote at all. So UK residents with Irish citizenship are the only exception, as presumably they can vote for their own government as well.
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    MARTYM8MARTYM8 Posts: 44,710
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    bean999 wrote: »
    So UK residents with Irish citizenship are the only exception, as presumably they can vote for their own government as well.

    Irish citizens resident in the UK cannot vote in Irish elections - you have to live in Ireland and be on the electoral roll there.

    So Irish people living in the Uk can only vote in UK elections.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,799
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    MARTYM8 wrote: »
    Irish citizens resident in the UK cannot vote in Irish elections - you have to live in Ireland and be on the electoral roll there.

    So Irish people living in the Uk can only vote in UK elections.
    Interesting thx. So that's no overseas vote in the Republic, or just no UK overseas vote?
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    MARTYM8MARTYM8 Posts: 44,710
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    bean999 wrote: »
    Interesting thx. So that's no overseas vote in the Republic, or just no UK overseas vote?

    You have to be permanently resident in Ireland to vote there - so Irish citizens cannot vote in Ireland if they live abroad (in UK, USA or anywhere).

    If they allowed all the 'expat' Irish to vote there would probably be about 100 million of them - thus dwarfing the 4m who actually live in Ireland.:D
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 503
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    Rafer wrote: »
    British citizens living or working in the EU (or further) can. But EU nationals can't.
    No they can't.
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    Ethel_FredEthel_Fred Posts: 34,127
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    Ernest 123 wrote: »
    No they can't.
    Yes they can - which is why there has been a big campaign to get the ex-pat vote out. They don't even have to live in the EU

    http://www.theolivepress.es/2010/04/06/the-expat-election/
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    LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,709
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    bean999 wrote: »
    Interesting thx. So that's no overseas vote in the Republic, or just no UK overseas vote?

    I suppose if Irish elections included all those with Irish citizenship living abroad, they would have one of the biggest elections in the world.
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