Face of Nation : The EU Fee has complained to the UK authorities over obstacles that prevented many EU residents from voting within the UK within the European elections.
There was a lot anger amongst UK-resident voters from different member states, who discovered they may not vote on 23 Could.
In a letter to the UK Cupboard Workplace, seen by the Newpaper24, an EU commissioner stated these voters confronted “quite a lot of obstacles to participation”.
The UK authorities says it “took all of the authorized steps vital” earlier than the vote.
EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova stated in her letter of 21 June that the UK had “the duty to respect the proper to vote of EU residents and to take the measures vital to make sure such voting rights will be successfully exercised”.
She stated that within the 2014 European elections “the identical issues have been encountered by Union residents” wishing to vote within the UK. Furthermore, she stated, the UK had pledged to treatment these points earlier than the Could 2019 elections.
EU residents in UK turned away from polls
Inside hours of the polling cubicles opening, the hashtag #deniedmyvote was trending on Twitter, with EU residents saying they’d been turned away from polling stations within the UK.
Ms Jourova famous that the UK authorities had confronted “sensible challenges” in organising the elections to the European Parliament, for the reason that UK had been making ready to exit the EU on 29 March, however on 11 April the EU had agreed to increase the deadline to 31 October.
She requested the UK authorities to offer details about the obstacles that EU voters had confronted within the UK, in addition to information “on the incidents reported and the complaints lodged with the UK authorities”.
The UK hosts about 3.2m nationals from the opposite 27 member states, whereas about 1.3m UK residents reside elsewhere within the EU.
With a view to vote within the UK, EU residents needed to be on the electoral register and needed to have returned a UC1 kind by 7 Could to their native authority, declaring they might not vote in one other EU member state.
Residents of Eire, Malta or Cyprus have been eligible to vote within the UK with out having to make that written declaration.
Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Get together, pushing for an early UK exit from the EU, got here high, profitable 28 seats. The professional-EU Liberal Democrats got here second, with 15 seats.
In a press release on Ms Jourova’s letter, the UK Cupboard Workplace instructed the Newpaper24: “The UK Authorities took all of the authorized steps vital to arrange for the European Parliament elections, together with setting up all the mandatory legislative and funding parts to allow Returning Officers to make their preparations.”
The assertion additionally stated “the federal government’s precedence was to work to go away the European Union earlier than 23 Could and so not participate within the European elections”.
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Ms Jourova stated the Fee had acquired “complaints straight from residents” in regards to the voting obstacles within the UK.
On 23 Could the UK Electoral Fee famous the “frustration” of some EU residents within the UK, “who’ve been discovering they’re unable to vote”.
It stated “the very brief discover from the federal government of the UK’s participation in these elections impacted on the time obtainable for consciousness of this course of amongst residents, and for residents to finish the method”.
Ms Jourova’s letter stated that in lots of instances EU residents:
Weren’t knowledgeable of the truth that the nationwide registration process had two steps, requiring completion of an “Electoral Registration kind” along with the “EU residents – European Parliament voter registration kind”
Requested however didn’t obtain the “EU residents – European Parliament voter registration kind” from Electoral Registration Officers
Submitted the “EU residents – European Parliament voter registration kind” however it was not processed, so their names didn’t seem on the electoral roll
Didn’t get an enough response once they complained at polling stations about not being on the electoral roll.
