The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, celebrated today the “democratic normality” that means that about half a million Galicians and Galicians in 144 countries around the world can participate in the next General Elections without having to request a vote first. “These elections confirm the end of a historical injustice with Galician citizens abroad,” said the delegate, since they are the first to affect Galicia after the modification in 2022 of the Law of the General Electoral Regime (LOREJ). The delegate pointed out that the modification of the electoral legislation suppressed the procedures, “often a real Gincana”, that people abroad had to do in order to be able to manifest a basic constitutional right, that of participating in the election of their representatives.
Pedro Blanco showed his confidence that “the voice of Galicia Exterior” will be heard loud and clear in the elections of July 23, reflecting the weight that CERA has in the total census, of 18%. And he recalled that although they are not the first elections held since the approval of the modification of the LOREJ, in the municipal elections of May the CERA had no right to vote so, in practice, this is the first electoral process that impacts in Galicia with the new legislation.
34 million ballot papers
The delegate stressed that the participation of CERA represents a logistical effort not previously known. Of the 144 countries in which there are Galicians and Galicians of the CERA census, 89 countries have 50 or fewer voters and, of them, in 19 there is only one person registered and in 14 countries, two people registered.
Government sub-delegations facilitate the content of the envelopes that are already arriving by people abroad. The documentation is sent through the INE in two shipments. A first one with voting envelopes and with the address of the competent Xunta Electoral; the registration certificates in the census and an information sheet. In a second mailing, the voters and electoral receive the ballot papers. The subdelegations allocate 34 million ballot papers for the vote abroad that correspond to the complete sets of candidacies to the Congress and the Senate that are provided for each voter. This documentation will be the one used to deposit the vote, either in the premises authorized in the destination countries or by certified mail.
Distribution by country
Argentina remains the country with the highest number of CERA voters, with 165,993 people who have the right to vote in elections. This is followed by Cuba (44,831), Brazil (44,665) and Uruguay (36,677). Switzerland is the first European country on the list, with 33,925 voters; the United Arab Emirates (181) is the first country in Galician voters on the Asian continent and South Africa (152) the first in Africa.
The complete list of countries is described below:
ARXENTINE 165933
CUBA 44831
BRAZIL44665
URUGUAI 36667
SUÍZA 33925
VENEZUELA 26734
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 21682
FRANCE 17383
GERMAN 15285
UNITED KINGDOM 13521
MEXICO 12699
PORTUGAL 4013
CHILE 3892
PANAMA 3322
BAIXO COUNTRIES 2867
BELXICA 2566
CANADA 2206
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 2179
ANDORRA 2076
AUSTRALIA 1784
ITALY 1390
COLOMBIA 1333
PERU 1204
COSTA RICA 996
PORTO RICO 987
IRELAND 798
ECUADOR 610
LUXEMBOURG 594
HONDURAS 515
SWEDEN 422
BOLIVIA 385
GUATEMALA 371
PARAGUAI 369
AUSTRIA 292
DENMARK 278
NORWAY 261
LIECHTENSTEIN 244
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 181
SOUTH AFRICA 152
CHINA 151
POLAND 139
XAPÓN 122
MOROCCOS109
FINLAND 99
NOVA ZEALAND 99
CZECH REPUBLIC 97
NAMIBIA 95
NICARAGUA 95
PHILIPPINES 87
O SAVIOUR 73
MALTA 71
RUSSIA 67
SAUDI ARABIA 65
GREECE 64
SINGAPORE 61
ANGOLA 50
THAILAND 49
QATAR 48
MOZAMBIQUE 40
HUNGARY 38
SENEGAL 38
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 37
XORDANIA 34
LEBANON 33
TURKEY 32
ISRAEL 30
ARXELIA 27
SLOVAKIA 26
ICELAND 25
CYPRUS 24
ROMANY 22
TUNISIA 22
OTHER COUNTRIES IN ASIA 22
BULGARIA 20
INDIA 20
MONACO 19
CROATIA 19
INDONESIA 19
KUWAIT 19
VIETNAM 19
EXIPTO 17
MALAISIA 17
KOREA 17
LITHUANIA 15
ESTONIA 14
SLOVENIA 14
CAMEROON 14
GHANA 11
SERBIA 10
KENYA 10
OMAN 10
XAMAICA 8
IVORY COAST 7
BAHAMAS 7
UCRAIN 6
LATVIA 6
MAURITANIA 6
NIXERIA 6
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 6
IRAN 6
CAMBOXA 6
PAKISTAN 6
GUINEA-BISSAU 5
MAURITIUS 5
BANGLADESH 5
CAPE VERDE 4
REP.DEMOCRÁTICA DO CONGO 4
SYRIA 4
SUDAN 3
MYANMAR 3
UZBEKISTAN 3
XEORXIA 2
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 2
BENIN 2
ETHIOPIA 2
LIBYA 2
TOGO 2
ANTIGA E BARBUDA 2
BARBADOS 2
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 2
AFGHANISTAN 2
BAHRAIN 2
SRI-LANKA 2
CASAQUISTAN 2
PALESTINE, NON-MEMBRO OBSERVER STATE OF UNITED NATIONS 2
ALBANIA 1
BOTSWANA 1
MADAGASCAR 1
RWANDA 1
SEYCHELLES 1
TANZANIA 1
UGANDA 1
ZAMBIA 1
BELIZE 1
HAITI 1
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 1
SAINT LUCIA 1
SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVES 1
GÜIANA 1
IRAQ 1
LAOS 1
BRUNEI 1
IEMEN 1
VANUATU 1