He 14 in February there will be elections to the Parliament of Catalonia. In order to be able to participate from abroad, the different deadlines must be taken into account, present in this Calendar of the 14F elections.
A few days ago, the Electoral Census Office has published the data of the Electoral Census of Absent Residents (CERA), which will be used in this election. The right to vote shall be exercised in accordance with the following procedure:
All Catalans living abroad and registered with the Spanish CERA or Erta (Spanish Residents Temporarily Absent) they can vote in these elections. And they can do it regardless of where they live.
Before the election (electors CERA)
If you are a permanent resident in your host country, check that you are registered with CERA. You must contact the corresponding consulate or embassy for confirmation. All Spanish residents, older than 18 years, registered in the Registro de Matricula Consular (RMC) as absent residents they are automatically part of the CERA.
Between 28 of December and the 4 January, you should make sure that you are registered with the CERA by consulting the electoral census lists at the consulate. Check that it is listed and that your details are correct. If there are data or incorrect, the corresponding modification request must be submitted (Claim for inclusion) in this period. These claims are made directly to the consulate or embassy, with a form that will facilitate, and are resolved within a maximum of ten days.
If you have an electronic identity for access to public administration services (Cl@ve), you can make the inquiry about your registration in the electoral census via this page.
The submission of the Inclusion Claim is particularly important per a those you have processed l‘high to WAX once closed the census, in other words that is, after the first of October 2020. In general, complaints from registrants in August and September have a strong chance of being accepted. In all cases you have to try.
If you are not registered at the consulate and you are a temporary resident
If you are a temporary resident of your host country and, accordingly, you have not registered with the RMC as a permanent resident, you can sign up for l’ERTA. The application must be made in person at the consular offices or consular sections of the embassies no later than the twenty-fifth day following the convening of the electoral process, in other words that is, of 22 December 2020 to the 16 January 2021.
The application form can be found at consulates and consular sections of embassies and on the website of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/es/ServiciosAlCiudadano/SiEstasEnElExtranjero/Documents/2011INSCRIPCIONNORESIDENTE.pdf
If you are registered as a temporary resident in the current ERTA register more than one any, the consulate may require you to register as a permanent resident.
Consulates apply much more restrictive rules than in the past to accept ERTA registrations. Generally, only people who have lived in the country for less than a year and can prove a temporary stay (scholarship, practices, etc.) are registered without problems in the ERTA.
First application for a vote (‘Rogue vote’)
WE REMIND YOU THAT THE ELECTORAL PROCEDURE IN FORCE IS BASED ON THE NAME “VOTE ROGADO”. IN OTHER WORDS THAT IS, THE ELECTOR MUST APPLY FOR THE VOTING PAPERS IN ADVANCE TO THE CORRESPONDING PROVINCIAL DELEGATION OF THE ELECTORAL BOARD. ONLY IN THE SECOND INSTANCE, ONCE THE ELECTORAL DOCUMENTATION IS RECEIVED, YOU CAN EXERCISE YOUR VOTE.
Voters registered with CERA who wish to exercise their right to vote must submit by post or fax, no later than 16 January, the request for a vote addressed to the Provincial Delegation of the Electoral Census Office. They will do so by filling in an official form that will be sent to the address listed in the CERA to all those registered in the census. That doesn’t stop me from being able to get it, from the day after the call for elections, at consular offices or electronically at embassies, consulates or ministerial websites.
You can download it from:
https://sede.ine.gob.es/votoCorreoCera/impreso/EPC2021/impresos solicitud vxc CERA.EPC2021.VC1c_bis_cat.v1.pdf (in Catalan)
Voters must submit the ballot application and include it, together with the voting application form, a photocopy of your passport or ID, issued by Spanish authorities or the certification of nationality or registration in the RMC, issued by the Spanish consulate in the country of residence.
As an alternative to fax and regular mail, the system can also be used “online vote request”, first, the fastest and most efficient. If you want to apply for your vote this way, you have two options:
- Online with electronic certificate. Accessing the procedure “CERA vote request” in the direction https://sede.ine.gob.es/consultaCTTVotoCera/ associated with the DNI.
- By internet with the telematic processing key (CTT) which you will receive by post at the address of registration. Accessing the procedure “CERA vote request” in the direction https://sede.ine.gob.es/consultaCTTVotoCera/ with the CTT, you will need to follow the instructions and attach a file with ONE of these documents: DAYS, passport, certificate of Spanish nationality or consular registration certificate.
Receipt of electoral documentation
Once the Provincial Delegation of the Electoral Census Office has received the request for a vote, will proceed to send, in the direction specified by the voter, the following documentation:
- Ballot papers
- Voting envelope
- Two identical certificates of registration for the CERA and an envelope with the address of the competent Electoral Board.
- An envelope with the address of the Consular Office or Consular Section of the Diplomatic Mission where the voter is registered.
These documents will be sent to the applicant by certified mail until to the 21 October included, if there are no challenges to the proclamation of any candidacy. In case of contestation of candidacies, el terms widens fins al 29 d'octubre.
The status of the processing of postal voting applications can be consulted online at “Electronic headquarters of the National Institute of Statistics”:
In these elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, there are three ways to be able to exercise the vote once the documentation has been received:
- Vote by mail addressed to embassies and consulates (electors CERA)
Voters registered with CERA who choose to exercise their voting rights by mail must include, in the envelope addressed to the consular office in which they are registered, the ballot envelope with the ballot paper and the CERA registration certificate, photocopy of passport or DNI issued by the Spanish authorities or, if not, certificate of nationality or certificate of registration in the RMC issued by the Spanish consulate in the country of residence. They must send everything in the envelope addressed to the consular office or consular section of the Diplomatic Mission to which they are attached., by certified mail no later than 9 February.
Vot en urna (electors CERA)
To vote at the ballot box, you must present in person the envelopes and documents mentioned in the previous point at the corresponding consular offices or sections for registration., or in the places assigned to them for this electoral process, between 10 i the 12 February.
IMPORTANT: It is not possible for CERA registered voters to send the vote by mail directly to the Provincial Electoral Board.
Vote by mail addressed to the polling station of origin (electors ERTA)
Si sou electors ERTA, once the documentation is received at home, you have to vote by mail (you cannot vote at the ballot box), sending the envelope with the ballot paper and the ERTA registration certificate, photocopy of passport or DNI issued by the Spanish authorities or, if not, certificate of nationality or certificate of registration with the RMC issued by the Consulate of Spain in the country of residence. You must submit everything to envelope addressed to the electoral board of the constituency in Catalonia, by certified mail, fins al 10 February (included).
CERA voters temporarily in Spain
If a CERA voter is temporarily in Spain during this electoral process, you can apply (just like the residents in Spain) voting by mail from the date of the call and fins al 4 February (included). This does not lead to the termination of CERA. To do it, you must fill in an application available at any Spanish Post Office and send it to the Provincial Delegation of the Electoral Census Office of the province of registration.
Voters must sign the application and check that the Post Office official puts the corresponding date and stamp. Once the electoral documentation has been received from the Spanish address indicated in the application, the voter will send the vote by certified mail, no later than the day 10 February. These voters will not be able to vote in person at the polling station.
Voters living abroad who have not registered with either CERA or ERTA
If you are not registered with CERA or ERTA and do not want to do so, count, for all intents and purposes, as a citizen registered in Catalonia. You will be able to exercise your right to vote in person (traveling to Catalonia during the day 14 February) or with the early voting by mail of 22 from December to 4 February. To do it, you must go to any post office in Spain and obtain the voting application form that must be submitted at the same office.
Once the application has been submitted, the postal services notify the Electoral Census Office, whereby the applicant loses the right to vote in person on election day. The Electoral Census Office sends the corresponding election documentation by certified mail to your home (in Catalonia) indicated by the interested party, from 2 January. The documentation provided includes the envelope addressed to the polling station corresponding to the interested party where he must enter the corresponding documentation and send it no later than before the 10 February.
