400,000 foreigners can vote in Spain’s local elections in May
A total of 414,500 foreigners residing in Spain will be able to vote in the upcoming municipal elections on May 28th. Here are the nationalities with the biggest voting power.
Spain's municipal elections, the equivalent of local elections in the UK, will be held on Sunday May 28th 2023, and will see local councillors and mayors elected in thousands of towns and cities across the country.
For foreigners in Spain, municipal elections represent a rare chance to vote (including for some non-EU citizens), as well as even be able to run as candidates for office.
But even though the country has more than 5 million foreign nationals registered as residents, only 414,500 will be able to vote to choose their mayor.
That’s due to foreigners having to register their intent to vote in las elecciones municipales before January 30th, as well as the fact that only EU nationals and people from a handful of non-EU nations can exercise these voting rights.
Spanish residents from Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Ecuador, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom can vote in municipal elections in Spain thanks to bilateral voting agreements.
Of the 39 foreign nationalities that can vote, Romanians make up more than a quarter of the total with 113,492 voters.
They are followed by Italians (66,845 voters), Germans (41,630), Britons (36,543) and French voters (36,310).
In regions such as Valencia (73,978 foreign voters) Catalonia (67,379), Andalusia (65,316), Madrid (63,192), the Canary Islands (44,485) and the Balearic Islands (19,135), foreign nationals can have a big impact on the outcome of local elections.
The low rate of Britons who can vote, less than a tenth of the roughly 400,000 who reside in Spain, reflects how many UK nationals are either unaware of their voting rights in their adopted country, missed the deadline or are simply not interested enough in local Spanish elections.
READ MORE: Britons told to register to vote in local elections despite deal with Spain
Nonetheless, when their post-Brexit voting rights in Spain were enshrined in law in 2022, there were 37 locally elected British town and city councillors in Spain, mostly in the Valencia region and Andalusia, the two Spanish regions with the highest number of British residents.
The reciprocal Spain-UK local elections deal requires Britons who wished to vote to have a legal Spanish residence permit, three years of residence in Spain and their padrón registration at the municipality where they wish to vote in.
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Spain's municipal elections, the equivalent of local elections in the UK, will be held on Sunday May 28th 2023, and will see local councillors and mayors elected in thousands of towns and cities across the country.
For foreigners in Spain, municipal elections represent a rare chance to vote (including for some non-EU citizens), as well as even be able to run as candidates for office.
But even though the country has more than 5 million foreign nationals registered as residents, only 414,500 will be able to vote to choose their mayor.
That’s due to foreigners having to register their intent to vote in las elecciones municipales before January 30th, as well as the fact that only EU nationals and people from a handful of non-EU nations can exercise these voting rights.
Spanish residents from Bolivia, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Korea, Ecuador, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom can vote in municipal elections in Spain thanks to bilateral voting agreements.
Of the 39 foreign nationalities that can vote, Romanians make up more than a quarter of the total with 113,492 voters.
They are followed by Italians (66,845 voters), Germans (41,630), Britons (36,543) and French voters (36,310).
In regions such as Valencia (73,978 foreign voters) Catalonia (67,379), Andalusia (65,316), Madrid (63,192), the Canary Islands (44,485) and the Balearic Islands (19,135), foreign nationals can have a big impact on the outcome of local elections.
The low rate of Britons who can vote, less than a tenth of the roughly 400,000 who reside in Spain, reflects how many UK nationals are either unaware of their voting rights in their adopted country, missed the deadline or are simply not interested enough in local Spanish elections.
READ MORE: Britons told to register to vote in local elections despite deal with Spain
Nonetheless, when their post-Brexit voting rights in Spain were enshrined in law in 2022, there were 37 locally elected British town and city councillors in Spain, mostly in the Valencia region and Andalusia, the two Spanish regions with the highest number of British residents.
The reciprocal Spain-UK local elections deal requires Britons who wished to vote to have a legal Spanish residence permit, three years of residence in Spain and their padrón registration at the municipality where they wish to vote in.
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