Electoral Rights of Third-Country Nationals in the EU countriesDr Derek Hutcheson‘Politická participace migrantu’, Prague, 8-9 April 2015

26 February 2013

EUDO/FRACIT(http://eudo-citizenship.eu/about/fracit)

• Electoral Laws• http://eudo-citizenship.eu/databases/national-elector

al-laws

• 28 national Reports • http://eudo-citizenship.eu/electoral-rights/electoral-

rights-reports

• Study for European Parliament• http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/

etudes/join/2013/474441/IPOL-AFCO_ET%282013%29474441_EN.pdf

• Report to AFCO, 26 February 2013• http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/

committees/video?event=20130226-1500-COMMITTEE-AFCO

• Electoral Rights database • http://eudo-citizenship.eu/electoral-rights/

comparing-electoral-rights 2

Overview in respect of TCNs

• Map out electoral rights across EU Member States

• Identify additional restrictions on enfranchisement

• Explain enfranchisement of selected categories of TCCs

• Examine electoral participation rates in local elections

• Formulate policy recommendations on the basis of key

findings

3

Normative boundaries of the demosModel Inner boundary

(inclusion)Outer boundary (exclusion)

Residence criterion

Citizenship Citizenship Non-citizenship No

All-contributing Those contributing to the state financially, regardless of citizenship status

Non-taxpayers, regardless of citizenship status.

Not necessarily, though most taxpayers will also be resident.

All-affected All those directly affected by the political decisions of the state.

Those unaffected by political decisions of the state.

Includes all residents; does not necessarily exclude non-residents, but other factors (geography, finance, etc.) play more important role.

All-subjected All those subject to the laws of the state

Those not subject to the laws of the state

Includes all residents; does not necessarily exclude non-residents, but only in areas with direct interlinkage with state affairs.

Stakeholder Evidence of a continued stake in a polity

No stake in the polity Includes all residents; does not necessarily exclude non-residents who have a genuine stake in the polity

Derived from Iseult Honohan and Derek S. Hutcheson (forthcoming 2015), ‘Transnational Citizenship and Access to Electoral Rights: Defining the Demos in European States’, in Johan A. Elkink and David Farrell, The Act of Voting (Routledge).

4

Differential voting rights at national and local level• ‘Restricting the local franchise to national citizens, or EU

citizens, or to the citizens of those states that grant a reciprocal franchise introduces a conditionality for the local franchise that has nothing to do with the powers and functions of local self-government.’ – Bauböck 2015.

• Immigration status in principle no different from intra-country migrants.

• Nested within national regimes.

• No local immigration/citizenship status. 5

Legal Context• EU broadly in favour through ‘soft’ law, as integration tool:

• Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration in the EU (JHA Council, 2004).

• The EP has advocated the extension of the local franchise since 1996.• Article 6 of the 1992 Council of Europe Convention on the Participation of

Foreigners in Public Life (signed by 8 Member states and ratified by 5 only).

• BUT not through ‘hard’ law:• “[t]he European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance

with the ordinary legislative procedure, may establish measures to provide incentives and support for the action of Member States with a view to promoting the integration of third-country nationals residing legally in their territories, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States.” (Art. 79.4 TFEU)

6

Electoral Rights vary greatly• No electoral rights for TCCs (12 states)

• Voting Rights: • rare at national level (2 states, selectively) • increasingly common at regional (5) and local level (16)

• Candidacy rights: more restricted than those for voting• rare at national level (2 states, selectively)• 4 in regional elections (UK, PT, SE and DK) and • 10 in local elections (DK, FI, SE, IE, EL, LU, NL, PT, SK, UK).

• Selective enfranchisement• Special categories only (PT, ES, UK)• Facilitated access - 4 states (FI, SE, DK, EL)

7

Voting rights in local legislative elections (EU28)

8

Candidacy rights in local legislative elections (EU28)

9

Additional restrictions

• Durational residency requirements• From 6 months (IE) to 5 years (BE, LU, NL)

• Legal status of residence• Holders of permanent residence permits only (e.g., LT, EE, SI, SK)= de facto durational requirement

• Registration procedures• Same as for natives in 9 states• Additional requirements in 7 states (BE, EL, ES, HU, LU, ,PT)• e.g., Belgian oath, Greek criminal certificate, etc. 10

Selective enfranchisement• Membership of an international association of states other

than the EU:- Nordic Union (Norway and Iceland) in DK, FI & SE- Commonwealth citizens in the United Kingdom- Citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries

(CPLP) in Portugal (only applies to Brazil and Cape Verde)

• Bilateral agreements applied on the basis of reciprocity- Inactive provisions in Cyprus and the Czech Republic- Growing and eclectic list of countries in Spain and Portugal

• Special ties based on linguistic or cultural affinities- Irish citizens residing the UK- Facilitated access for holders of a ‘omogenis’ I.D. in Greece

11

Turnout – limited information

•In Estonia, reported participation rates of Russian citizens and stateless persons in the 2009 local elections were even higher (respectively 75 and 63%). 12

Bhatti et al 2014, p.28 (http://cvap.polsci.ku.dk/forskning/publikationer/arbejdspapirer/Hvem_stemte_og_hvem_blev_hjemme__final_.

pdf)

Policy recommendations

• Converging towards a common approach• Harmonising residence-based conditions is beyond EU

competence• BUT Council Directive 2003/109/EC lays down criteria for long-

term residence requirements• Recommendation that these should be considered the maximum

requirements for enfranchisement

• Increasing Electoral Participation• Lowering registration barriers • Information campaigns promoting the benefits of voting.

13

• See http://eudo-citizenship.eu for:• Electoral rights database• Country reports• Information on citizenship and

integration across Europe

14