Enforcement of Legislation Preventing Double-Voting in European Parliament Elections

 This question is posed by ACE on behalf of Manuel Wally

In European Parliament elections dual-nationals may only vote for one country of citizenship. As the General principles for all Member States lay out in Article 8 of the 1976 Act, no one may vote more than once in any election of representatives to the European Parliament.  Voters may, however, choose in which state they will to vote.  Dual nationals voting in both countries of citizenship would therefore be voting twice for the same body.

In spite of these regulations, with cases of double-voting still being recorded in several EU countries, enforcement of the 1976 Act is still a challenge. As all enforcement of EU legislation occurs within member states, some countries have incorporated clauses election laws  to prevent double voting. Still, the enforcement of regulations is often uneven across member states.

Practitioners’ Network members with EU experience are therefore requested to weigh in on the following:

1. How can the European Union enforce the 1976 Act and prevent double voting?
2. How have EU member states incorporated the obligation of preventing double voting into their own electoral legal frameworks? Specific examples are welcome here.
3. Lastly, the issue of enforcement also applies to the issue of double candidacy—dual nationals of EU member states running as candidates in both countries of citizenship. Members are welcome to provide suggestions for questions 1 & 2 on the issue of double candidacy. 

1. If all the countries within the EU choose for either nationality or for domicily when it comes to non nationals the problem will be solved. A choice for nationalty will mean that a Dutch national living in France can only be registered as a voter in the Netherlands. A choice for domicily will lead to registration only in France. 2.  Voting twice is a criminal offence. 3. There is a workable procedure for this with points of contact in each EU memberstate. So that is not a great problem for us.

The high profile case that sparked the discussion is referred to here: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA4P0CO20140526?irpc=932

Ultimately, there should be a two-tier electoral system whereby one vote determines the national (or regional) contingent (as is) and the other the overall composition. Qualified stakeholders (dual nationals but also possibly non-national residents) may have a legitimate right to partake in determining more than one contingent, which they claim during registration at their residency, but only only one vote for the overall composition of the EP.

It may also be possible to accommodate accordingly by (cumulating and) splitting the ticket but comparatively complex.

The call for a central European voters register is not timely.