Nationality, or rather citizenship, which implies a legal connection between a person and a state, has historically been the basic requirement for the right to vote. Just belonging to the political community permits participation in decisions on public matters.
Nationality and citizenship are not necessarily synonymous terms. The distinction gains importance in states where the population includes persons--citizens--belonging to various nationalities, from a historical, cultural or political perspective. One of the core elements of the sovereignty of each state lies in the definition of who its citizens are. This determination is sometimes made in the constitution itself. As a rule, this is the case when the latter has some problematic feature, such as in countries with high immigration, originating from a division of larger units, with different communities or for other historical reasons. If not in the constitution, then citizenship may be defined in federal or national laws. Each of them establishes precisely who the citizen is, in terms of birthplace, parentage or other elements and on what conditions nationality or citizenship can be acquired for other reasons, such residence in the country, their particular relationship with it, etc.
To these effects, citizenship is a legal and not a political concept. It is a status that is acquired according to the constitution and the laws of each state. In some countries, however, the possession of citizenship (if not born a citizen) is not sufficient for the right to vote, as in addition, a certain lapse of time is demanded.
The automatic relationship between citizenship and the right to vote is
beginning to become more flexible; sometimes as a consequence of special cultural or historical ties; other times for migratory reasons and other times as a consequence of international agreements.
Normally, the sphere within which citizens of other states are permitted to vote is limited to municipal elections. Here it is acknowledged that foreign residents participate equally in local life and the reduced political scope of this does not prevent them from voting in such elections. The 1992 European Union Treaty acknowledges the right to all the citizens of the Union to vote in the local elections in each one of the fifteen state members. Precedents had already existed in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway). One case in point is the recognition of the right of the citizens of the Republic of Ireland and other states of the Commonwealth to vote within the United Kingdom and vice versa in some of them.
In this evolution, reference has to be made to the regulation--in a
sense an innovation--on the participation in the elections to the European
Parliament (see Election of the European Parliament Members). Citizens of the member states may exercise their right to vote, regardless of which one of them they reside in. Likewise, citizens of any state are permitted to stand as candidates in another country.
Internal regulations that grant nationality may give rise to conflicts, as is currently experienced in certain states emerging from the former Soviet Union (see Minorities Deprived of the Right to Vote in Latvia). The application of a criterion that restricts citizenship to the members of certain nationalities (in a historical or cultural sense) has in fact deprived relatively numerous groups of their political rights.
