Why we must vote

Now the municipal election campaign is officially underway, European residents are being bombarded with electoral propaganda asking for their vote. As a candidate for the Democratic Coalition of Parcent, I have been out talking to people, discussing our local issues and hopefully motivating them to vote. However, I have heard a number of worrying comments about our right to be involved in the political process in our adopted country. A point being raised in Parcent, (where the election is a one-issue campaign on whether the village wants to go ahead with massive urbanisation plans), is whether the British and other European residents in the village should have a say. Whilst many are highly vocal and active in the campaign to stop the urbanisations a few people have said: "shouldn't we leave it up to the 'Spanish?'" The inference is who are we to meddle in local Spanish issues. This is misguided for a number of important reasons. As European citizens resident in Spain we have a democratic right to vote, enshrined in national and European law. We are taxpayers, our taxes contributing to national, regional and local funding. In many areas of the Comunitat Valenciana we also now make up a sizeable percentage of the population, and in a number of municipalities non-Spanish voters are now the majority. We live, work and bring up our children here and have every right to vote for those parties who best represent our interests. What is more, I think we have a duty to take an interest in the activities of our local administrations. Mayors and councillors are elected to serve their communities and should be held accountable for their actions. If we do not become involved in the political process in our towns and villages we have no right to complain when our elected representatives let us down. If we do not tell our Town Halls what we feel is important and how local life could be improved, we cannot be surprised when they take no notice of our needs or act directly against our interests, as is the case with many people affected by the Valencian LRAU/LUV land laws. We are fortunate that we have this chance to make our voice heard and should not take our vote for granted. Thousands of taxpaying, legal immigrants in Spain are denied a vote as they are not EU or Norwegian citizens. We ourselves have no right to vote in regional and national elections, a disgraceful situation that leaves long term residents in Spain effectively disenfranchised. So I urge everyone to actively take part in this election campaign, attend meetings, read party literature, ask questions of the candidates and on May 27 join their Spanish neighbours in deciding the future of their Town Halls.

Jacqui Cotterill