UK: Electoral Commission urges expats to register to vote

Published:  7 Feb at 12 PM
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Britain’s Electoral Commission has launched a campaign to urge citizens living overseas to register to vote in time for the general election on 7 May.

The UK High Commission in the Cypriot capital Nicosia noted that it was the first British election in which people could register online to cast their votes, adding that it hoped the initiative would lead to more expats taking part.

According to recent estimates, around 5.5 million British nationals live abroad, but less than 20,000 are on the electoral registers. In order to register to vote from outside the country, UK residents must have been registered in a British constituency within the past 15 years.

The Electoral Commission’s director of communications Alex Robertson noted that many expats were not aware they were able to register to vote in the general election when living overseas. He said it was important to change that “misconception” because it was now the easiest it had ever been to do so.

Robertson’s message to UK citizens living abroad was that it would take just five minutes to make sure they had their say on Overseas Voter Registration Day, adding that all they had to do was simply register on https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
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