UK expats in Poland to retain pre-Brexit voting rights

British citizens living in Poland will retain the voting rights they enjoyed when Britain was a member of the European Union, according to draft legislation approved by the Polish government on Tuesday.   

British citizens living in Poland will retain the voting rights they enjoyed when Britain was a member of the European Union, under draft legislation approved by the Polish government on Tuesday.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Under the plan, UK expats based in Poland will be eligible to vote in municipal and mayoral elections and run for seats on municipal councils, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

This means they will enjoy “the same voting rights in Poland as citizens of EU member states,” officials said.

27 maja 1990 r. odbyły się w Polsce pierwsze po II wojnie światowej wolne wybory samorządowe do rad gmin i miast. Wygrały je Komitety Obywatelskie „Solidarność”, które uzyskały ponad 53 proc. głosów, wyprzedzając https://t.co/aRGLCE7RXq. Lokalne Komitety Wyborców i PSL.

— IPN Kraków (@ipn_krakow) May 27, 2018

2020 Polish-British agreement on pre-Brexit voting rights

The Polish government’s move to guarantee pre-Brexit voting rights to British expats stems from a 2020 agreement between Poland and Britain, reporters were told.

Under this bilateral document, Polish citizens living in the UK "will retain the voting rights in British local elections that they possessed until Britain departed from the EU,” according to the Polish government. 

The draft legislation guaranteeing pre-Brexit voting rights to British citizens living in Poland will now be submitted to the Sejm, the lower house of Poland's parliament.

The regulations will enter into force when the 2020 Polish-British agreement comes into effect, officials said, as reported by the PAP news agency.  

Britain formally left the EU on January 31, 2020.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, gov.pl, bankier.pl