In the Region, the municipality with the highest absolute number of resident foreign voters is Murcia, with 2,270, followed by Mazarrón, where 1,838 foreigners live who have the right to participate in local elections and who processed their application for do so, as required by law. After Mazarrón are San Javier, with 759, Cartagena, with 729 and Lorca, with 595.
Although, by specific weight, where the foreign vote will have more incidence will be in Mazarrón. There, 9.6% of the voters called to the polls are foreigners. In second place is Abanilla, where they account for 8.08% of the total voters, and is followed by Los Alcázares, Pliego, San Javier and Aledo, where the percentage of foreign voters exceeds 3%.
The weight of the foreign vote in Mazarrón is so relevant that since the last elections the City Council has had a council dedicated to Camposol, the urbanization where the largest number of British citizens reside. The councilor in charge of this department, the Italian Silvana Elisabetta Buxton, warns that this year, as a result of the confusion generated by the changes that ‘Brexit’ has introduced in the consideration of British citizens in the face of the elections, the number of voters will be significantly reduced. «We calculate that we have some 3,500 foreigners who before ‘Brexit’ had the right to vote without the need to register previously. But for these elections it was necessary to request it in January. This is going to greatly affect the vote of foreigners in the municipality because many of the citizens of the United Kingdom did not know that they had to do it, “says the councilor. Silvana, who is 75 years old and has lived in Mazarrón since 2014 with her husband, has become the voice of the English-speaking community in this urbanization of the town, where it is difficult to hear a word in Spanish. «I can communicate because I know the language and it is a little easier for me than for the English. It is very difficult for them to learn it », she recounts.
The language problem
For this reason, he points out, their participation in the political development of the municipality is reduced. «The language affects their knowledge of what happens in the municipality. They cannot read the newspapers or watch television where local affairs are reported. Things that are normal to me, they can’t do. That is why their knowledge is very limited, although what we try from the Department is precisely to establish that communication with them and inform them of what is being done, “explains Silvana.
“Many Britons have lost their right to vote because they were not aware of the changes. I think that the established term, which requires giving notice of the intention to vote more than four months in advance, is too strict, “she defends. Despite the fall that is already anticipated, Silvana still expects that there will be “a significant percentage of foreigners” who go to the polls, whether they are British or of other European nationalities such as German or Dutch. “Many citizens have contacted me, so I hope they will participate.”
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