Brits to keep local election vote post-Brexit: Spain is first EU country to strike deal
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 @ 3:29 PM
BRITISH nationals living in Spain will be allowed to vote in their local council elections this May and continue to stand as candidates, with existing councillors permitted to keep their seats.
A deal between the UK and Spanish governments signed in Madrid today (Monday) comes as light relief for the estimated 300,000 Brits in Spain – according to UK government statistics, although Spain puts this figure at closer to 750,000 – who believed that after Brexit, they would no longer have a say in who spent their municipal taxes and what decisions were made in their home towns that could affect their daily lives.
More worrying still was the position for Brits who already hold a council seat – especially those high enough up candidate lists in ruling parties to be earning a partial or even full wage from their role – and who feared that they would automatically be forced to stand down.
Anyone not eligible to vote is not eligible to stand for election or hold a council or government seat, which is why foreign nationals, unless they hold joint citizenship, are not present on any government in Spain or the rest of the world.
In Spain, all EU citizens are automatically entitled to vote in local elections, but only Spaniards, either native or naturalised, are permitted to vote for their regional and national government representatives.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com