Changes to voting in the UK for Expats

[Amanda Oakley]

Go with the "flow", simple, naive corruption for little gain in little Villages, or take on the big boys..... in my world, each to their own, but try and understand the local politics and the culture..... they all have faults which we can argue about until the "cows" come  home.....
We all have freedom of choice.................personal opinión obviously and perhaps very naive but, real to me in this world.... Compared to options in London, I know which I would choose.....
sunrun :handshake

[Karen4]

Regrettably no! At the minute, for example, we have the DUP calling for a ban on ouija boards and Sinn Fein still denying all knowledge of nasty goings on by any of their fine upstanding chaps! Mind you, I always thought Norn Iron politics was a minefield but Spain beats us hands down!  :lol:

[byrney]

Why Karen?  Don't they have normal Parties in NI?  :whistle:

[Karen4]

Unfortunately you can't register online if you lived in Northern Ireland. Mind you, you usually can't vote Conservative, Labour or whatever anyway!

[byrney]

Excellent BB.  Thank you.

It took me less than five minutes to complete the form.

[Babyboomer]

Whilst not NHW I am sure many expats may be unaware of the change in the law regarding Voting in the UK election.
Please see the message below received from the MP where I used to live. I have registered and it did not take long.
"I'm e-mailing you because around 3 million British people who live abroad have just regained their right to vote in this country. Election law has just changed so anyone who has been living abroad for less than 15 years is legally entitled to vote but, with only 2 months to go before the General Election on May 7th, virtually none of them know about it. And that's where you come in...

What I am asking is, if you can think of three Britons you know who live abroad, that you forward this message to them by email or on Facebook. All they have to do is click on www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and complete the form to order a postal vote online. It takes about 3 minutes, and all they need is their passport and National Insurance number for identification. The deadline is April 20th.

So please encourage them to register. It's easy, and it matters. British people died within the last 100 years to win the vote, and they're still being killed in other countries where people want to stop them getting it today. It's fashionable to be cynical about democracy but, if you've paid your taxes, you've got a right to have a say in who spends them, and how. Or, as my grandma used to say, 'if I don't vote, I'll get the politicians I deserve'!