Beyond the borders of the political community?

Discussants: Zoltán Pozsár-Szentmiklósy, János Mécs, Róbert László.
The discussion is led by Eszter Bodnár.

Abstract

“Citizenship, not residence, defines our political community and underpins the right to vote”. This solemn statement by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada supports the decision in Frank v Canada [2019 SCC 1] holding unconstitutional the denial of the right to vote in a federal election to Canadian citizens who have resided abroad for five years or more. However, this is contradicted by the legislation of several Western European democracies, where residence in the country matters and the right to vote of expatriates is subject to different forms of limitation. Through a comparative analysis of the legal arrangements and relevant case-law of four European legal orders (Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), this paper argues that not all residence-based restrictions on the right to vote amount, ipso facto, to infringements of this right. Subject to a proportionality review, they can be considered as acceptable limitations justified by the need to secure that a sufficient link exists between the individual and the country, whereas an unlimited extension of the right to vote to all citizens living abroad can harm the legitimacy of a country’s representative institutions.

Davide Paris is an associate professor of constitutional law at the University of Foggia (IT). His research interests cover all areas of domestic and European constitutional law, with a specific focus on Italian and comparative constitutional adjudication, fundamental rights’ protection in Europe, federalism, and law and bioethics. He has authored more than 70 publications, including two monographs and two edited books. He has taught courses in constitutional and comparative constitutional law in several universities in Italy and abroad, including University of Heidelberg, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Bocconi University (Milan), and LUISS “Guido Carli” (Rome). From 2014 to 2020 he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg (D), and in 2022 and 2023 he served as a law clerk at the Italian Constitutional Court.

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