The Forgotten voter

THE British and Spanish governments are always encouraging people to vote, unfortunately in my case, I am a bit of a lost cause, because I can´t vote anywhere. I have lived outside Britain for more than fifteen years and British citizens resident in Spain are still unable to vote in Spanish general elections. There must be thousands of people like me, across Spain. I am thinking of forming a club called the Forgotten Voter!

I would definitely vote in the Spanish general elections in November. I have been a Spanish resident for most of my life, my job calls for a good knowledge of the Spanish political system but someone, somewhere has decided that my vote is not wanted. Now, I realise that I can´t have the best of both worlds and as I can´t vote in Spain I would have thought that Britain would want my vote. Sadly not. Infact I have never voted in a general election, anywhere. I was too young to vote when I was living in Britain and in Spain I have never had the opportunity. Now, that non-Spanish European Union residents can vote in local and European elections I would have thought that the government could easily increase their voting rights to general elections. Spain has now become my adopted home. I pay taxes here, I live and work here. So why can´t I vote? If you feel that we should be able to vote in the general elections send me an email to jmoore@majorcadailybulletin and let us see if the politicians take note.