European Elections: You will be able to vote even if you are far from home and also if you live outside of Portugal. A guide to not fail to vote

After the Legislative Assembly, and with the European elections approaching — take place in the various countries of the Union between the 6th and 9th of June (in Portugal, on the 9th) — the time has come to start thinking about the next time to vote. This year, to counter the high abstention rates in these elections in Portugal and avoid the greater propensity to fail in civic duty, which takes place during a long weekend at the edge of summer, You will be able to vote anywhere in the country or abroad.

Furthermore, if you are a Portuguese citizen residing in another European Union (EU) country, you can vote in any of the 27 Member States where you reside — it is a guaranteed right. To vote on the lists where you live, like nationals of that country, you must register and each one has different deadlines and ways to do so.

Expresso explains all the possibilities you have and what you can do to vote, live inside or outside the country.

I live and vote in Portugal

How does voting work anywhere in the country?

For this year’s European Championships, a special regime for exercising the right to vote on mobility without prior registration. This regime allows voters to vote at “any polling station established in the national territory or abroad”, in any part of the country, being possible due to the use of digital electoral registers.

European polling stations will have the electoral rolls in a digital version on a computer. But voting is exclusively in person. For example, if you live in Braga and are on holiday in the Algarve, you can simply go to an available polling station in the region and vote. With your citizen card, you will be identified and, through computerized means, the corresponding bulletin will be made available.

All polling stations will have real-time access to the electoral rolls, to prevent fraud.

This modality is also available for those on holiday abroad, although, in this case, it is not possible to do so at any polling station in the country: you have to go to a consular post or a diplomatic post. You just need to know for sure which polling stations (which will later be indicated in the websites Government), take your citizen card and vote. The scrutiny is then carried out at consular posts.

I live in Portugal but I will be out of the country on election day. Can I also vote in advance?

Yes. The right to vote in advance remains, as in the last elections. Voters who are mobile on the day of voting for the European Parliament must register to vote in advance, one week before the election.

As in national elections, the request can be made through the platform online Vote in advance (registration is not yet open) or by letter.

I live abroad

I live inside or outside the EU and want to vote for Portuguese candidates. How do I do?

As a Portuguese citizen and holder of a Citizen Card, the census is automatic for those over 18 years old. In other words, as in any other national election, you are automatically registered to vote at the diplomatic, consular representations or external delegations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your area of ​​residence, on dates to be designated.

There is also the possibility of early voting for hospitalized patients, prisoners and those displaced abroad.

Unlike other EU countries, which have options to vote by post or even onlinePortugal only allows this in person.

Consult regularly the websites from the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI) and the Portuguese representation in your country of residence to find out where and when you can vote.

I live in another EU country and want to vote for candidates from that country. How and on what dates?

The EU allows citizens residing in any of the 27 Member States to vote for candidates from that country, in the same way as nationals.

The elections start on June 6th (Thursday) in the Netherlands. Ireland follows on June 7th (Friday), Latvia, Malta and Slovakia vote on June 8th (Saturday). The remaining countries (including Portugal) vote on Sunday, June 9th. Czechia and Italy allow voting on consecutive days: 7 and 8 in Czechia, and 8 and 9 in Italy.

For foreigners, however, there is an additional step: the registration. Each country has different deadlines (some of which have already passed) to achieve this and also modalities that differ from each other.

If you live in this country, you can do so until this date (with link for information/registration of each country):

At the site official European elections, there is detailed information on how to vote and register in each of the Member States. Select here the country where you live and find out more.

European elections elect, at continental level, 720 deputies to the European Parliament (the only EU institution that is directly elected by voters), 15 more seats than the current 705.

Of these 720, and as in the previous ones, 21 deputies will be Portugueseorganized into political groups (currently seven) depending on their ideology:

• EPP – Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)
• S&D – Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament
• ECR – Group of European Conservatives and Reformists
• Renew Europe – Renew Europe Group
• The Left – Left Group in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
• Greens/ALE – Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
• ID – Identity and Democracy Group

In the current hemicycle, Portugal had nine deputies in the S&D – all from the PS; seven in the PPE – six from the PSD and one from the CDS-PP; four on the Left – two from BE and two from PCP; one in the Greens – independent, but initially elected by the PAN. Find out here who are*.

Despite the small number of deputies in this large hemicycle, voting is important to guarantee national representation. In fact, a recent study revealed that, among the little ones, Portugal is one of the countries with the most influence in the European Parliament. When it comes to legislative activities, it is the country with the best performance, being the third delegation with the most political influence, considering the proportionality in the number of deputies. Around a third of Portuguese deputies are on the top 100 of the most influential in the European Union’s legislative body.

*This list no longer includes former MEPs Marisa Matias (BE), Nuno Melo (CDS-PP), Maria da Graça Carvalho (PSD), Paul Rangel (PSD) and José Manuel Fernandes (PSD), since the first left her position to take up a mandate in the Assembly of the Republic and the rest to join the Government of the XVI Legislature. They are now replaced by other members of their respective parties until the end of the term: those who already know each other, Anabela Rodrigues takes over from Marisa Matias and Vasco Becker-Weinberg that of Nuno Melo.