citizenship question:difference public and parliamentary el

[rogerroger]

Hello

I have been preparing for the citizeship test and on page 73 of the Book it states

citizens of the United Kingdom, the commonwealth, and the irish republic resident in this countrry may vote in all public elections. citizens of EU states, resident in the UK, have the right to vote in all but national parliamentary elections

since indian is part of the commonwealth, doesn't this mean that indian citizens may vote in all public elections, which brings me to my question, what is a public election

my understanding is that there are three different types of election
local
parliamentary
european

are these elections public?

[John]

They are indeed. If you are Indian and thus a Commonwealth Citizen, you are entitled to go on to the Electoral Register .... and vote in all Local, Parliamentary and European elections.

[rogerroger]

you mean as an indian citizen i can vote for the parimamentary elections, hence vote for MPs and hence influence the choice of prime minister. all these years i could have voted in the parliamentary election. so basically on the register of electors, i should put my name and nationality as indian.

what happens if i dont fill the Register of electors form?

i guess the condition is that i should be living in the UK legally as a student/work permit holder/ILR

else all indian, pakistanis/bangladeshis are eligible to vote for MPS and guess who would be determining the winner of the next election and hence the choice of the PM?

[John]

Roger, any Commonwealth Citizen, or EU Citizen, is entitled to go on to the Electoral Roll.

Not on the Electoral Roll = no vote.

Commonwealth Citizens on the roll are entitled to vote in all UK elections. EU Citizens (who are not British nor Commonwealth) are entitled to vote in Local and European elections, but not UK Parliamentary ones.

As it says in that book?

[bbdivo]

you mean as an indian citizen i can vote for the parimamentary elections, hence vote for MPs and hence influence the choice of prime minister. all these years i could have voted in the parliamentary election. so basically on the register of electors, i should put my name and nationality as indian.

what happens if i dont fill the Register of electors form?

i guess the condition is that i should be living in the UK legally as a student/work permit holder/ILR

else all indian, pakistanis/bangladeshis are eligible to vote for MPS and guess who would be determining the winner of the next election and hence the choice of the PM?

Crazy isn't it! I don't think you need to even state that you are indian in the electoral register. Yup just checked the form you dont have to state your nationality if you are British, Irish or a commonwealth citizen! I remember when i was watching all the election coverage and the way they were all going on about immigrants, do they not know that a lot of immigrants can actaully vote too?!!!

[MWazir]

you mean as an indian citizen i can vote for the parimamentary elections, hence vote for MPs and hence influence the choice of prime minister

I was amazed too when I came to know. I maybe wrong, but I dont think a foriegn national can vote in India even if he settled there.

I found it so amusing in last election to find our local incumbent MP distributing pamplets on the street and so eager to shake hands with you and say, "Please vote for me, Sir". The contrast could not have been greater for me, coming from India where many MPs think they literally own their constitunecies .

I remember when i was watching all the election coverage and the way they were all going on about immigrants, do they not know that a lot of immigrants can actaully vote too?!!!

They are politicians. They know the number of eligible voters of their constitunecies better than they know their birthdates. Having said that, immigrants are like any normal public. A good percentage will not excersise their right to vote, which is a shame really. Unfortunatly some of them are not even aware they have the right and that they should register. Furthermore, and I can bet the farm on this, MPs whose constituencies have a large immigrant base, will always have only good things to say about immigration policies and how vibrant that makes our society.

[John]

Anyone reading this and thinking .... how do I register to vote? ... should first go to :-

Register to vote

-: which is on the Electoral Commission website.

[Chess]

when I was a student in the early 90's the University used to automatically send our names to the electoral register as we were staying in University Halls. (therefiore all nationalities were registered)..


..it was also to assist in the collection of Poll Tax - does anyone still remember this tax?

[John]

it was also to assist in the collection of Poll Tax - does anyone still remember this tax?

Poll Tax? Do we allow swearing on this Board? In this house the words "Poll Tax" still constitute swearing. And for the same reason Maggie Thatcher is still known as a c*w .... as in cattle ... the female of.

Poll Tax ... a tax remembered with as much affection as Window Tax. which was much earlier in the UK's history.

[rogerroger]

yes i had the local MP knocking on my door and asking me to vote
what a contrast, in India the MP's go around telling even the civil servents we are the government and you are our servents.
some of them are "aik raat ki dulhan" but the rest of them are pretty much there to stay and their constituentcy is pretty much their fiefdom

when I was a student in the early 90's the University used to automatically send our names to the electoral register as we were staying in University Halls. (therefiore all nationalities were registered)..

yes, i remember that too, i was surprised to have been included on the electoral register.
what if a commonwealth citizen is here on a tourist visa, can he/she vote in the elections, i guess that is not the case?


another crazy question? what if the irish walked in a day before an election and voted en masse for say XYZ party, i mean they dont need to prove their residency either, they can walk into the UK and start working

[John]

another crazy question? what if the irish walked in a day before an election and voted en masse for say XYZ party, i mean they dont need to prove their residency either, they can walk into the UK and start working

If you look at that link I provided earlier you will see that in Northern Ireland they have slightly different electoral registration requirements. In the "old days" in NI dead people regularly used to vote! That is, there was quite a bit of people committing the offence of personation .... pretending to be someone else when voting.

Don't forget it is not just a question of being within the required category, but also actually being on the Electoral Register. So it is not possible for the Irish just to walk in a day before the election.

Your tourist visa question? I have not looked up the detailed regulations but the Electoral Commission website does refer to people "living in the UK", and I suspect that does not include mere visitors.

[rogerroger]

thanks for the reply

it makes the electoral process clear to me now, hopefully i should not mess up a question on the electoral policy