June 28th was the mid-term elections in Argentina. From the estimated 1 million argentines abroad, sources mention just about 1% of these do vote in the elections at the consulates. Voting from overseas seem to be a cause that unifies many Diaspora and migrant communities: Indians (Kerala to press Centre for voting rights of Diaspora) and Dominicans (Calls for Diaspora to vote abroad) abroad are lobbying and working hard to conquer their voting rights. And the ones that can’t, travel back to do so. One of the examples of active voting by “going back home” is the Lebanese (From Brazil to Byblos, Lebanese diaspora pours in for vote). As argentines we have the right to vote from abroad as a given, and hardly embrace it neither implement it. In my case, I not only see voting as a citizen’s right and an obligation, but as a celebration of democracy. I still can feel the excitement of my parents and grandparents on elections’ day in the 80s when democracy returned to Argentina. However, having been a resident abroad for the past 8 years, many times I am confronted with exchanges about the legitimacy of our votes, the most common comment being: you are not there and have not enough information about what is going on, how would you dare to vote? The discussion may go on and on, covering a wide range of angles including psychological, economic, and certainly, political, not reaching much conclusions (to many argentines this may sound familiar for other topics as well). Nevertheless, a positive development has been a Presidential Decree in 2007 that created Provincia 25 (there are 24 territorial provinces in Argentina) with the purpose to “strengthen the linkages with the citizens abroad…and effectively develop their condition as citizens, promoting spaces for democratic participation and making it easier to exercise the right to vote.” In parallel, some initiatives to raise awareness about the right to vote from abroad and to inform about the elections were started, including Argentinos A Votar and Argentina Elections.
Unfortunately, two reasons made me not to be part of the about 1% voting on June 28th. First, the registration with the consulate in the Netherlands, which I did as soon as arrived in early 2008, seemed not to go through properly. I am expecting a better explanation of what happened when I visit next week. Secondly, after conflicted feelings (should I come back earlier to vote?) I ended up traveling with a return ticket on that date which had to be postponed due to a flue. Luckily, this turned out to be the best option, as would have been highly frustrating arriving on time to find out I was not in the voters’ list (I found out when called to justify my no-vote).
Reading what other communities are fighting for, following the initiatives of the argentine government and academic and civic groups, and from my personal exchanges and experience, several questions come up about the meaning, incentives and possibilities of voting from abroad. What makes the voting abroad numbers so low, and what would the most appropriate registration system be to facilitate voting? What voting system? And most importantly, what are the motivations, the incentives, that will bring us to the ballot box? Voting by mail? Campaigns by politicians abroad? Some representation?
It will be interesting to see whether within the current political reform the argentine government is currently putting forward, there will be implications in the way voting for citizens abroad takes shape.
1 comment:
I think that various interesting questions are posed her. I would very much like to read what the results were, what conclusions you’ve been able to arrive to and how things are going.
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