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Your views: ‘It makes more sense for Brits to have the vote in Spain than the UK’

As a Briton living in Spain would you rather vote in the Spanish parliamentary elections or in the UK general election? The question divided our readers with many supporting the view they should have the vote in the country where they pay taxes.

Published: 14 November 2019 13:49 CET

Your views: 'It makes more sense for Brits to have the vote in Spain than the UK'

Photo: AFP

The general election held in Spain last weekend served as reminder that those who made their home in Spain but haven’t got Spanish citizenship don’t have a vote.

And with a UK election just around the corner it is particularly galling for those Britons who fall foul of the 15-year-rule and find that they don’t have a say there either.

It’s especially frustrating given that the December 12th general election will have a huge impact on Brexit on how it affects the lives of those living in the European Union.

So what do Brits in Spain feel about not having a voice? Would they rather have a say in the Spanish or British elections?

We asked our readers where they would like to have a vote, if they had a choice.

Many felt that they would like to have a say in their adopted home because that is where they pay taxes and where the government affects their day to day life.

But although foreign residents are allowed to vote in local elections, a vote in regional and national elections is reserved for those with Spanish citizenship.

“I feel more at home in Spain and would like to think my vote could make a difference,” said Mary de lisle Lyle who lives in Murcia.

“Taxation without a vote isn't democratic,” insists Carol from Almeria. “Referenda apart, it would make more sense to have a vote in the country domiciled.”

“We live here it's home and always will be,” agreed Lynne Holden from Alicante.

“As a resident in Spain the government here affects my life more than the UK government,” said Rebecca Wey from Valencia.

Sally Veall, who lives on the Costa Brava said: “I am a permanent resident in Spain, I pay my taxes in Spain & my home is in Spain, therefore I believe I should have the right to vote here,” said Sally Veall from her home on the Costa Brava.

Sharon Wade in Aragon agreed:“I live and pay my taxes here.”

Helen Johnston who has a home in Capellades, Catalonia said: “While I would very much like to vote in Spain, particularly in the present climate, I understand it is my responsibility to acquire citizenship in order to do so.”

Michael Brown who has lived in Asturias for 28 years said: “If a person has lived in a foreign country for many years it is more important to vote where he or she resides.

“Up to now, I have always felt that the government of my country of residence has had a greater bearing on my life than that of the UK.”

Elizabeth Marjorie Oliver from Los Montesinos added: “Having lived in Spain for 13 years I feel I think it would be good to have a say as we do in local elections.”

And Carole Patton who has lived in Spain since 1979 said: “If I live and work here, own a house, am married to a Spaniard and have 2 children, and therefore pay all my taxes in this country, then I think I should have the right to decide which party is best for taking these vital decisions.”

Bernard Mark Newton, who lives in Marina Alta on the Costa Blanca, feels the same way: “I have lived in Spain permanently since 1997. I pay tax to the Spanish treasury. I should have the vote here”.

Photo: AFP

“Given the option I would choose to vote in the national elections of the country where I live, again because the result also affects me and my daily life directly,” said Eric J. Gates.

Tracy Doran who lives in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Catalonia said: “I should have a say in the society I contribute to.”

For some people though, having the right to vote in Spain’s national elections isn’t important.

“I do not understand the Spanish system,” confessed James Davidson Turnbull who lives in Almordi. “And although I am resident I believe it is the Spanish who should decide their rules and I will obey them.”

Asked to choose between a vote in the UK or a vote in Spain the majority of the readers who responded said their priority right now was to vote in the UK because the December 12th election that determine the outcome of Brexit.

Given the enormous ramifications Brexit will have on the lives of those Brits who live in Europe, many felt that they really ought to have a say in the elections “back home”.

'Brexit is the game changer'

“At the present time, Nov 2019, I want to be able to influence (cancel) Brexit. But in general terms, my day to day is in Spain,” said Roy Thompson from Catalonia. But because he has lived outside of the UK for 25 years he has lost the right to vote in the UK, a fact that that makes him “feel sick, useless and completely voiceless”.

“In normal times I'd say I'd like to vote in Spain, however right now the UK is in the grip of a rightwing extremist group of fanatics who have taken control of the Conservative Party, and therefore if I could choose I would vote in the UK as I believe the need is greater there at the moment,” insists Steve Eleftheriou who has lived in the Tarragona province for 21 years.

“We still rely on pensions and health in Spain so if Brexit changes this it would be a disaster for expats so they should be able to vote as still affects their life in a big way,” said Shirley Stott from Andalusia.

Sue Wilson who lives in Alcossebre said: “I'm a British pensioner. The actions of the British government affect me more than the actions of the Spanish government.”

William Donaldson from the Canary Islands added: “Without Brexit I would have chosen the Spanish option. Brexit the game changer puts a new slant on things.”

“In a perfect world we would all be allowed to vote in the country in which we are permanently resident. In this absence I am furious that this election in the UK will probably be the last in which we can vote because of the 15 year rule,” said Deborah Booth from Galicia who will be casting a proxy vote in the UK

“This year yes , because of the vital nature of this particular election, to stop the idiotic Brexit, and to stop fascism creeping in unnoticed into UK,” she said.

“Until you become a citizen of another country you are still British and therefore should be allowed to vote. Many of us have close relatives living in Britain and we care about their lives there,” insists Judith Hobson from Oviedo.

Why not both countries?

Many readers thought the fairest thing would be to vote in both countries.

“Both! Decisions in both affect me,” said Elaine Jones who lives in Ronda.

Agnes Miller who lives in Alicante province said: “I very reluctantly chose Spanish. But I don't believe it should be a binary choice.”

“Why not vote in the UK because I'm a citizen and in Spain because I pay tax there? At present I can only vote in Spain if I become Spanish, giving up my UK citizenship.”

Many, however, find that they don’t have the right to vote in either, and that is really hard to swallow.

Martin Roberts who lives in Madrid summed up the frustration of being disenfranchised after living outside the UK for more than 15 years.

“Voting is the most basic right of citizenship in any self-respecting democracy, and should not be curtailed merely because of where someone chooses to reside, for that would violate another definition of a free society, which is freedom of movement. Currently, millions of British citizens have been stripped of voting rights, putting us on a par with convicts and the certifiably insane. This is not only unfair, but patently absurd.”

Next week we will publish readers’ views on being denied the right to vote under the 15-year rule.

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Why regional elections in Catalonia matter to Spain's future

Sunday May 12th will see regional elections in Catalonia at a time when political uncertainty and unpredictability reigns not only in the northern region but across the country. As such, the results could, and likely will, have political ramifications at the national level, perhaps even on the stability of the government itself.

If you follow Spanish politics, you’ll have probably noticed that there’s been quite a lot going on recently. And even if you aren’t a semi-obsessive politico, Spanish politics has been so melodramatic, so unpredictable and (at times) so ridiculous, that in recent months it’s been hard to ignore.

In short: Socialist (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made a pact with Catalan separatist parties to stay in power after last summer’s general election. Part of this was an amnesty law that granted a legal amnesty to people involved in the failed 2017 referendum independence bid, but it caused outrage across many parts of the country and led to weeks of protests, some of which were violent.

Though Sánchez faced a lot of public ire, Carles Puigdemont, the former President of Catalonia who is a fugitive from Spanish law, takes the brunt of the hatred, particularly from the Spanish right and far-right. Puigdemont is running again in the regional election on May 12th, and has already stated that he will leave politics if he isn’t re-elected.

More recently, Sánchez shocked the country by publishing a highly personal letter on Twitter/X, reportedly released without the advice of his advisors or cabinet colleagues, stating that he was taking five days out to consider his future following repeated attacks against his wife over alleged influence peddling. This came right before the Catalan campaign kicked off and essentially brought politics to a standstill and left the country in limbo.

Sánchez then disappeared from public life, shut himself away in his La Moncloa residence and considered his future, leaving the country in the midst of what felt like a telenovela – a soap opera. On Monday he announced he was staying on and attempted to use the decision as a pivot moment to reinvigorate his government, strengthen Spanish democracy, and to make a stand against what Sánchez describes as the far-right ‘mud machine’.

Others view things differently. While Sánchez supporters see the debacle as a brave affront to right-wing harassment and lawfare tactics used against him, critics have described it as farcical, manipulative, and opposition Partido Popular leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo said that Sánchez had “made a fool of himself” and embarrassed Spain on the global scene.

Many view the move as cynical electioneering, and Sánchez does indeed have a well deserved reputation as a somewhat machiavellian political maneuverer.

But how can Sánchez’s five day mini-sabbatical be electioneering if Spain had elections as recently as last summer? Here’s where the upcoming Catalan elections come in again.

Why regional elections in Catalonia matter to Spain’s future

In short: the results of the Catalan elections have the potential to disrupt the delicate power balance in Madrid.

Some context: in the Catalan regional government, pro-independence parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), Junts per Catalunya (Puigdemont’s party) and the smaller Candidatura d’Unitat Popular (CUP) have an absolute majority. This allowed separatist parties, namely ERC and Junts, greater political leverage when negotiating the amnesty with Sánchez and the PSOE last year.

Though some, particularly in Junts, would like the amnesty (which is still yet to be approved in the Senate) to go further, the national government has more or less survived since the summer based on this uneasy truce. Depending on the results in Catalonia on May 12th, we may see just how fragile it really is.

Exiled Catalan separatist leader, MEP and founder of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party Carles Puigdemont gives a speech during a meeting to present his list for the upcoming regional elections in Catalonia, in Elna, southwestern France. (Photo by Matthieu RONDEL / AFP)

What do the polls say? Most seem to have the PSC (the PSOE’s sister party in Catalonia) making big gains and becoming the biggest party in the Generalitat, with leader Salvador Illa becoming President. According to RTVE’s average of polls, the PSC is on course to win 39 seats, six more than in 2021. Junts is projected to be in second place with 32 seats and would thus overtake ERC, which would get 28, a loss of 5 seats, though some polls put ERC in second and Junts third.

However, no poll gives the PSC an absolute majority of 68 seats needed to govern alone. As such, the PSC, should it win, will require the votes of far-left Comuns-Sumar, but also a coalition arrangement with a pro-independence party, most likely ERC.

However, polling from El Nacional, a Catalan newspaper, estimates that undecided voters still make up a third (33.5 percent) of the Catalan electorate, so there will likely be some variation from polling data to the results on election day.

Interestingly, Sánchez’s five day reflection period seems to have actually boosted PSOE polling numbers overall on a national level. According to a flash poll taken following the letter, the PSOE vote intention surged.

But the move has not proven popular with politicians in Catalonia, particularly among the pro-independence parties Sánchez’s government relies on in Madrid. The current President of the Generalitat and ERC candidate Pere Aragonès accused Sánchez of exploiting the “empathy” of the Spanish public “for an exclusively political purpose”, describing the “five day comedy” as “yet another electoral manoeuvre.”

The ERC has even made a complaint to Spain’s electoral authority about Sánchez’s decision and subsequent interview on Spanish state TV, claiming it could have breached electoral rules by favouring the PSOE candidacy in the Catalan election.

Junts general secretary Jordi Turull, meanwhile, has accused Sánchez of “interfering in the Catalan election.”

Remember, these are the parties that prop up the Sánchez government at the national level.

Protesters hold up a banner reading “Pedro (Sánchez), traitor” and “Spain is not for sale” during an anti-amnesty protest in Madrid. (Photo by Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP)

Potential scenarios

So, it’s safe to say that things are tense in Spanish politics. Sánchez has angered a lot of people with his period of reflection — not only his opponents but also those who prop up his government in Congress. Conversely, the move does seem to have increased PSOE support overall ahead of polling day, and the PSC seems to be on course to win in Catalonia.

With no party likely to win an absolute majority, the Catalan results on May 12th will require coalitions, which could in turn have a ripple effect on alliances in Madrid. This is principally because there is a possibility that ERC or Junts could be left out of the Generalitat, which could remove the incentive for one (or even both, in the unlikely event of a PSC absolute majority) pro-independence parties to keep Sánchez in the Moncloa, or at the very least to demand more from him.

The polls suggest the most likely outcome is the PSC winning the elections but needing the support of ERC. At the national level, this could lead to a split in the separatist movement and would leave Junts’ support in Congress up in the air. Junts could theoretically withdraw its support, topple the government, and trigger further general elections.

Another scenario touted by political pundits is that pro-independence parties could again win an absolute majority between them. This would heap further political pressure on Sánchez, who, after already spending a lot of political capital on the amnesty law, would likely be pressured for further concessions from the Generalitat, namely another referendum but also changes to the amnesty law. Separatist parties would point to their victory, against polling predictions, as a mandate for pushing the pro-independence movement further.

Of course, there’s also the (admittedly unlikely) possibility that Junts per Catalunya win an absolute majority and Puigdemont becomes President of the region, something that would set the scene for his return to Spain and send shockwaves through Spanish politics.

Perhaps there is no better indication of how important this election is than the fact that Sánchez’s first public appearance since his ‘will he, won’t he’ resignation stunt was at the Fería de Barcelona.

Whatever happens in Catalonia on May 12th, two things seem certain: firstly, that people from across the country will be tuning in for the results; and secondly, as the last few years have shown, predictions are essentially useless and anything can happen in Spanish politics.

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