France's overseas voting model: a virtual province for Argentina?
France gives its expats 11 dedicated MPs. As overseas voting grows in Spain, a proposal to create a virtual province for Argentina gains traction.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
France's overseas voting model: a virtual province for Argentina
France is clear: its citizens abroad do not dilute the territorial vote; they have their own constituency. Eleven deputies and twelve senators come from that "eleventh region" that spans the entire world. The system cleanly separates votes from the mainland from those of the diaspora. There is no risk of the overseas census shifting seats between provinces.
In Spain, the debate has exploded trinc remarks by Isabel Díaz Ayuso: "The third province by number of votes will be Argentina." The Madrid regional president accused the government of "multiplying agents in embassies to play with the distribution of seats." The figure is not minor: if Argentinians residing in Spain were a constituency, they would be the size of 56 football pitches and have about 6 directly assigned deputies. But the Constitution tied voting to the province, and that is where the model clashes.
The constitutional obstacle and the residency proposal
Creating a province only for foreigners would require reforming the Constitution, something no party has seriously put on the table. The alternative that has been applied in other countries – requiring a minimum residency to vote – also lacks consensus. Meanwhile, overseas voting continues to function as a bloc of votes that can tip the balance in several provinces. Those who defend limiting it argue that "someone who does not reside at least six months a year should not decide on our lives." The reply is that this would disenfranchise millions of emigrants.
The battle is set: the most optimistic calculations suggest that the Argentine vote could move up to 50 seats in an extreme scenario. A figure that seems inflated, but reflects the distrust toward a system that no one quite knows how it will behave in the next general election. With the legislature up in the air, the question floating is whether any legal solution will be attempted or if the debate will remain a summer storm.
France is clear: its citizens abroad do not dilute the territorial vote; they have their own constituency. Eleven deputies and twelve senators come from that "eleventh region" that spans the entire world. The system cleanly separates votes from the mainland from those of the diaspora. There is no risk of the overseas census shifting seats between provinces.
In Spain, the debate has exploded trinc remarks by Isabel Díaz Ayuso: "The third province by number of votes will be Argentina." The Madrid regional president accused the government of "multiplying agents in embassies to play with the distribution of seats." The figure is not minor: if Argentinians residing in Spain were a constituency, they would be the size of 56 football pitches and have about 6 directly assigned deputies. But the Constitution tied voting to the province, and that is where the model clashes.
The constitutional obstacle and the residency proposal
Creating a province only for foreigners would require reforming the Constitution, something no party has seriously put on the table. The alternative that has been applied in other countries – requiring a minimum residency to vote – also lacks consensus. Meanwhile, overseas voting continues to function as a bloc of votes that can tip the balance in several provinces. Those who defend limiting it argue that "someone who does not reside at least six months a year should not decide on our lives." The reply is that this would disenfranchise millions of emigrants.
The battle is set: the most optimistic calculations suggest that the Argentine vote could move up to 50 seats in an extreme scenario. A figure that seems inflated, but reflects the distrust toward a system that no one quite knows how it will behave in the next general election. With the legislature up in the air, the question floating is whether any legal solution will be attempted or if the debate will remain a summer storm.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (20 replies).
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