This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
A legal challenge brought up by two expats, on behalf of those living overseas for more than 15 years, has been dismissed by Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr Justice Blake of the high court. The challenge had requested to force the government to grant millions of UK citizens living abroad a vote in this June’s EU referendum. The case was failed by 94-year-old Second World War veteran living in Italy, Harry Shindler, and a lawyer living in Belgium, Jacquelyn MacLennan.
The honorable judge explained that the government is entitled to impose a cut-off period “at which extended residence abroad might indicate a weakening of ties with the United Kingdom.” Furthermore, it was pointed out that there would be “significant practical difficulties about adopting, especially for this referendum, a new electoral register which includes non-resident British citizens whose last residence in the UK was more than 15 years ago”. In their comments, the judges elucidated that “electoral registration officers currently retain records of previous electoral registers for a period of 15 years. They have no straightforward means of checking the previous residence status of British citizens who have been resident overseas for longer than 15 years.”
The ruling further stated that “in our view, parliament could legitimately take the view that electors who satisfy the test of closeness of connection set by the 15 rule form an appropriate group to vote on the question whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union.”
Be the first to comment