On Wednesday the 2nd of May we celebrated an informative chat to which all ex-pats where invited with a turnout of over 300 people.
The meeting was organised by Brexpats in Spain
Our Consul from Malaga Mrs. Charmain Arbouin came to provide an update of the Brexit negotiations.
It was a great meeting with many questions asked by the public which we replied to as best we possibly can which is not easy .
One importan issue that came up was voting rights at the next municipal elections in Spain that will take place next May.
The problem is that Brexit is dues to happen the month before.
What will happen with the point rights of British citizens. We could be in a situation where we cannot vote anywhere
Likewise there are presently 37 British counselllers in different Spanish town halls elected democratically at the last municipal elections. The problem is we do not know if they will be able to stand for office.
Having British members on the town hall councils has shown to be a fantastic thing in most cases for both the British and their Spanish neighbours as they have made the relations between the two communities much more fluid.
The political parties will soon be beating the drums in readiness for the municipal elections next May , and the first thing they need to establish is the lists of candidates . If nothing in done soon to clarify voting rights after Brexit all the British candidates will be removed from the list well in advance of the election to avoid them not being eligible for office next March. In other words unless a decision is established soon there will be no British candidates for the next Spanish municipal election.
At this meeting I saw in person how distressing this can be. I met Mr.Cristobal García the Mayor of a little village in Almería called Arboleas with a huge population of British ex-pats. He explained how it did not make any sense that in his village where there are presently three British counselors in line with the percentage of British population they could end up not having them anymore.
Many of those British ex-pats would in fact not be able to vote anywhere.
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