Czech President signs voting from abroad into law: Roma living abroad welcome this new opportunity to influence politics back home

Czech citizens will be able to take advantage of this innovation for the first time next year during the elections to the lower house, and the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) and “Freedom and Direct Democracy” (SPD) movements have already tried to change that, as they did not score many points with Czech citizens living abroad in the last elections. They may file a complaint with the Constitutional Court over the amendment.

Advocates of voting from abroad by mail have been pointing out that it is a method that is common in most European countries and that it is necessary to make it possible for Czechs living in far-flung regions to exercise their right to vote, as it is demanding in terms of finances and time to travel hundreds of kilometers or several days to reach a consulate or embassy in order to cast a ballot. Romani community member Petra Gelbart, who lives in the USA, agrees with the change and pointed out that so far her fellow Czech citizens who live far away from consulates and embassies have had difficulties participating in the voting process.

“The Czech Roma and our other fellow Czechs living abroad have so far been incapacitated in practice when it comes to participating in the voting process if they did not happen to live near an embassy or consulate. I vote at the consulate in New York, but for the vast majority of Roma living in England, North America or other countries, the consulate or embassy is several hours by plane or other transport from where they live. As of the next elections the registration of voters living abroad will be possible and they will be able to cast their ballot from the comfort of their own homes, as they say,” Gelbart told news server Romea.cz.

Those opposed to the idea cast doubt on whether voting from abroad is in accordance with constitutional requirements that voting be done in person by secret ballot. According to Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (Mayors and Independents – STAN), the amendment to the law on administering elections will withstand review by the Constitutional Court.

New opportunities for Roma from the Czech Republic living abroad

Gabriela Hrabaňová, director of the European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network, who lives in Brussels, welcomes the move. “This is a significant step forward that can deliver the opportunity to actively contribute to forming political events back at home, and not just for the Roma,” she told news server Romea.cz.

“I still have Czech citizenship and most of my family in the Czech Republic, it’s important to me to maintain a connection with my home country and help cultivate the Czech environment in terms of politics,” added Hrabaňová. Martin Grinvalský, who lives in Great Britain, is also enthusiastic about the prospect of voting by mail from abroad.

“Living outside the Czech Republic made it possible for me to look at society from various perspectives. Thanks to that, I am able to appreciate what works well in the Czech Republic – but I am also aware of what does not work well. Voting from abroad provides me the opportunity to state my opinion about the necessary transformations,” Grinvalský said.

According to Hrabaňová, the opportunity to vote from abroad will encourage other Romani people to get involved and actively contribute to political life. “Given that many Roma live abroad, voting from there will also strengthen our position as a community both at home and abroad. Last but not least, it is important to prevent populists and extremists from getting a majority, politically. Czechs living abroad can play an important role in that situation. All you have to do is look at the results of the ballots cast at the Czech Embassy in Belgium, where I live – the trend toward an open society is undeniable here,” she explained.

“Voting from abroad, in my opinion, is an important step forward for all citizens, including Romani ones who have gone abroad to better their lives. For many of them it was a necessity, because due to the slow pace of change in the Czech Republic, the segregation and the institutional racism, they did not have the conditions there for a good life,” Grinvalský told news server Romea.cz.

Grinvalský also rejected the reproaches of those who object to voting from abroad that their fellow citizens living abroad are not in direct contact with the reality of the Czech Republic. “I believe my regular visits more than once a year and my constant contact with my family and friends makes it possible for me to stay up-to-date. We frequently discuss how the decisions made by the Government are impacting their lives, which provides me with a clear picture of the situation at home,” he said.

How voting from abroad will work

According to the amendment, voting from abroad can be done by Czech citizens who are registered on the voter rolls at their relevant local consulate or embassy, just as before. They must make the request to vote by mail in time and provide the address where they want to receive their ballot envelope, delivery envelope and proof of identity form.

Those voting by mail from abroad confirm they are casting their vote on their own behalf by signing all of those documents. They print out a ballot from the election administration information system, complete it, put it into the ballot envelope, then put the ballot envelope and proof of their identity form in the delivery envelope, which they then mail to the consulate or embassy.

The district election commission abroad will open the delivery envelopes after in-person voting is over and, with the aid of the proof of identity form, will record the mail-in ballot cast by the voter. The ballot envelopes sent by mail are then added to the others in the ballot box by the election commissioners for that consulate or embassy.

According to those who submitted the amendment, this system basically rules out the opportunity for a voter to vote twice, i.e., once from abroad and once in person in the Czech Republic. Should somebody cast a ballot in person at a consulate or embassy and also vote from abroad by mail, the ballot cast by mail would not be counted by the election commission at the consulate or embassy.

Czech citizens who want to vote from abroad have to register on the voter rolls at a consulate or embassy at least 40 days before the elections, and by doing so they lose the opportunity to vote in person in the Czech Republic. Conserving the opportunity to vote in person even if a voter first voted from abroad by mail would involve the potential for such voters to be improperly influenced in how they vote.

Also for that reason, a voter abroad can be empowered by no more than seven other Czech citizens to retrieve the set of documents needed for voting by mail from the consulate or embassy. The adopted amendment also includes the proposal according to which political parties fielding candidates can nominate representatives to the election commissions at the consulates and embassies.

The votes from abroad will be counted as having been cast in the four largest regions of the Czech Republic instead of the two originally proposed regions, which should dilute their influence on the distribution of seats in Parliament. The State Election Commission will decide which of the four regions receives the votes cast by Czechs abroad through a lottery.

Czech citizens living abroad elsewhere in Europe will elect lawmakers to the lower house from two regions, one of which will be randomly allocated to voters from the zone covered by Britain, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Portugal, the other to other European countries. Czech citizens voting from the United States of America will then elect lawmakers from a randomly selected third region, while those voting in all other countries will elect lawmakers from a randomly selected fourth region.

Until now, Czech citizens living abroad were able to vote just at one of the country’s 110 consulates or embassies, while in the Czech Republic itself there are more than 14,000 polling places. During the most recent elections to the lower house, about 18,800 Czech citizens were able to cast a ballot for a lawmaker from abroad, with roughly 13,200 doing so.

During last year’s presidential election, as many as 28,700 Czech voters were able to cast ballots abroad and 23,000 took advantage of the option. According to Foreign Ministry estimates, roughly 600,000 Czech citizens live abroad.