Sinn Féin's General Election candidate in County Wexford, Cllr Anthony Kelly, has called for an introduction of new legislation so that Irish emigrants may retain their voting rights. On current Irish law, a citizen may not vote in a general election unless resident in Ireland on September the first of the previous year.
“Is it not bad enough that our people are being driven out of their country due to the mistakes of a blundering government, that they must bear the added burden of not being recognised when an opportunity for electorate change does come about?” Cllr Kelly asked. “It is an utter insult to those unfortunate enough to have to leave that the law fails to give them the opportunity to cast their vote from whatever far flung land they end up in.”
A 2006 study undertaken by Global Irish, a website dedicated to Diaspora issues, concluded that 115 countries, including all of Ireland’s EU partners, allow their overseas citizens to vote in state elections. Cllr Kelly is campaigning for the introduction of a postal vote for Irish citizens abroad.
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