ISSUE NO. 1596
4 - 10 February 2016
COSTA BLANCA NORTH YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
The decision is your future too AMBASSADOR encourages Britons to vote in referendum By Keith Baker With a referendum on Britain’s European Union membership on the cards, the Electoral Commission hopes to increase the number of expats eligible to vote in the UK. The British Ambassador, Simon Manley, visited Javea this week to launch a major awareness-raising campaign amongst Spain’s British population. Approximately 280,000 British citizens are registered on Spanish town hall ‘padrons’ although the actual number living here is believed to be much higher. Only 11,000 may vote in the UK, however, and the campaign aims to address this. The low percentage of registered voters is partly due to current rules preventing expats who have lived here for more than 15 years from voting. Although the Government has promised to lift the ban, this is unlikely to happen before the referendum. Meanwhile, registering is easy for overseas residents listed in a UK constituency within the last 15 years Turn to Page 4
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