The 9-N electorate

Carles Boix
3 min

I've read that the Catalan Parliament's committee currently drafting the Catalan bill on popular consultations has decided that those who will be allowed to vote in the 9-N referendum are: 1) Spanish citizens with Catalan political status (a formula that includes Catalans residing abroad); 2) Catalans residing elsewhere in Spain, and 3) nationals from EU member states and from third states that are reasonably settled in Catalonia.

I don't know if this proposal is final in the document drafted at the committee stage but, in any case, I think it is mistaken. First, for political and legislative reasons: it extends the right to decide to people that no normal country's constitution would give the right to vote on matters of sovereignty, or in fact, on national policies. Second, for technical reasons: since the Catalan government doesn't have the means to allow the participation of some of these groups (especially, although not exclusively, because of the lack of collaboration from Spain), there is a high risk of fraud and, consequently, of undermining the legitimacy of the 9-N referendum.

The extension of the right to vote to people with Catalan political status is indisputable for democratic reasons. Also, because it derives from Catalonia's fundamental law, the Statute of Autonomy, which gives this status to all Spanish citizens legally residing in Catalonia (art. 7.1). This is what authorizes Catalonia's citizens to exercise “their political rights [...] in accordance with this Estatut and the law”. (art. 7.1) and, therefore, to elect the Parliament of Catalonia (art. 55.3), to propose a reform of the Statute (art. 222.1.a and 223.1.a) and to ratify it (art. 222.1.b and 223.1.b) . In its second paragraph, article 7 itself extends the political rights defined in the Statute to “Spanish citizens resident abroad whose last legal place of residence was Catalonia” and to their descendants “who maintain their [Spanish] citizenship”.

However, the Statute of Autonomy doesn't grant any political rights to Spanish citizens who, having been born o simply having resided in Catalonia, have moved elsewhere in Spain. Nevertheless, the parliamentary committee wants to extend the right to vote on 9-N to all Spanish citizens that maintain “Catalan civil vicinity” (in other words, all those who fall under Catalan civil law): an automatic condition for the first two years after having resided in Catalonia and semiautomatic (you only lose it by request) for up to ten years after leaving Catalonia.

This proposal, which the committee probably justifies as a way of avoiding a situation of potential discrimination relative to Catalans who live abroad, is wrong for many reasons. Firstly, it modifies the Statute of Autonomy through a lower-level law. It does so to give the vote on a matter as important as independence to people who have no right to vote in regional or local elections 
–nor, in fact, in Catalan constituencies in Spanish general elections–. It is doubtful that the Council for Statutory Guarantees (1) or even the Constitutional Court will allow it. Secondly, it questions the argument that the political future of Catalonia can only be decided by its citizens. Instead, it paves the way for justifying that sovereignty (and, therefore, the possibility of exercising the right to decide and to organize the referendum) resides in all Spanish citizens. Thirdly, it poses huge problems in its execution: it is very difficult to create a register at such short notice to determine who acquired Catalan civil vicinity and who still has it. As a result, the risk of fraud is very high. Finally, taking into account the present lack of collaboration from Spain, it is very likely that, when voting, there will be a considerable amount of disinformation and intimidation against Catalans living in the rest of Spain.

Most of the criticisms above are also applicable to giving the vote to foreign nationals. There is no country (that takes its sovereignty seriously) that lets its foreigners vote on matters of national significance and, most of all, of a constituent nature. It is true that European citizens may vote in the local elections of the town where they reside but, once again, the Catalan Statute doesn't give them fundamental electoral rights (on parliamentary elections and the reform of the Statute itself). Also, from a technical point of view, their registration would be extremely complex: the register (the census is of no use because they are not included in it) doesn't distinguish between legal and illegal foreign residents. It seems that it is very difficult to justify the granting of the vote to the latter.

I understand the political logic behind the bill: our country has a very strong preference for an expansive conception of democracy, mostly derived from the widely popular and very “inclusive” definition of a Catalan as someone who lives and works in Catalonia. However, there are philosophical, legal and technical reasons that advise keeping the criteria approved in the Statute (without those reasons preventing the extension of the vote to citizens that are as young as 16).

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(1) Catalonia’s Consell de Garanties Estatutàries (Council for Statutory Guarantees) advises the Catalan parliament and government on the legality and constitutionality of drafted legislation.

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