I gathered that, but that was not what I asked

OK. Although I can think of lots of situations that that would apply to.

That was why I phrased my question the way I did. If you are not going to return, how do you reconcile the issue of voting with the fact that you are unlikely to be affected by your vote at all, whereas others will? How would you feel about, let's say, Canadians living abroad voting for something that would radically affect your life where you live (ignoring whether they can for the moment)?

Now, if you were voting on the basis of index linking the state pension to those in Canada, I believe that you would be on firmer ground, but I didn't realise that any parties are running on such a ticket

That is another issue entirely.

I suppose one could argue that there is almost a duty to vote if one is privileged to have the opportunity. I guess there is a 15 year cut off for the very reason that there comes a point at which you are no longer entitled to an influencing opinion. If the rules were that Canadians abroad can have a say in the elections of their country then I respect that. They are Canadians in the same way I'm still British.

I registered before the deadline (at least, I'd assumed it was the deadline, as it was on an FCO announcement to international voters to register by 20 April), then received a letter a week later from my old council saying I would be registered as an overseas elector from 1 June 2015. Hmm, not much use for this election I thought. I emailed them three days ago to query this, but haven't heard back, so I'm not holding out much hope.

I'm voting. I'm still a UK citizen and therefore am not just entitled to do so, it is also my civic responsibility. While I have no immediate plans to go back to the UK, it is still the only country in the world that I am a citizen of, and the concerns of my home country are still my concerns.

Just because I am abroad does not mean that I take this election any less seriously than I did in the past. I'm also disappointed that if I stay in Canada I'm no longer eligible to vote, even though I will still be a UK citizen.

The fact that expats can vote on issues that dont effect them is ridiculous.

However, what confuses me is that we find ourselves on the precipice of voting in the tories or labour back in to power. Despite the fact that everyone (i.e. the 99%) is clamouring for change. Despite austerity. Despite Ed Milliband (although to be fair, i think he's handled himself very well in the recent debates). Essentially, people are voting for more of the same, whichever way they go. It's madness.

And what confuses me further is the rising popularity of UKIP. A party of racists, where the manifesto actually calls for abolishing discrimination laws, who are anti gay marriage, who have still have no plans to deal with income inequality.

All while the Greens continue to be largely ignored by the media.

[QUOTE=Jericho79;11626983]The fact that expats can vote on issues that dont effect them is ridiculous.

However, what confuses me is that we find ourselves on the precipice of voting in the tories or labour back in to power. Despite the fact that everyone (i.e. the 99%) is clamouring for change. Despite austerity. Despite Ed Milliband (although to be fair, i think he's handled himself very well in the recent debates). Essentially, people are voting for more of the same, whichever way they go. It's madness.

And what confuses me further is the rising popularity of UKIP. A party of racists, where the manifesto actually calls for abolishing discrimination laws, who are anti gay marriage, who have still have no plans to deal with income inequality.

All while the Greens continue to be largely ignored by the media.[/QUOTE]

I rather think the Greens are largely ignored by everyone, not just the media.

This is what I find disheartening. One should never vote for a party, but for a candidate. Rather than stating that there is little choice, I would find out all I could about all of the candidates, not the parties, and make my decision based upon that.

If many more did the same, lots of "independents" would be elected and, if enough of them were, change could occur.

If I had the power to change how elections were run, I would simply remove all reference to parties on the ballet slip, thereby forcing voters to at least perform a little research.

If you're unfortunate enough to be a Labour voter, then you're voting for the Party.

Labour MPs aren't allowed to have their own minds. The Unions said so.

I sent a PM to Christmas but I think she's gone for her beauty sleep. I thought it would be fun to have an anonymous voting poll on the UK election (by party not candidate) on this forum. But I have no idea how to set this up. Does anyone know how to do it? It would be interesting to see how we would all vote if we were able.

We have postal votes coming, allegedly, but whether they get here in time for us to send back we shall have to see.

Considered Proxy votes but as my parents are raving UKIP ers at present I didn't want to let my dad run amock with another 3 votes!

Change or chaos ?

Voters have enough difficulty ascertaining or understanding the intentions of a party let alone the candidates.

Why do they?

Have you ever many any of your local candidates? Have you ever heard any of them speak, in person?

I accept that most of the electorate don't inform themselves of anything much. That is not the candidates' fault; it is their own fault.

Take the parties off the ballet box and I would be amazed if knowledge of the candidates did not improve.

https://m.facebook.com/jennifersaund...=like&__tn__=E

Sums it up really.

Irrespective of whether you are entitled to vote in the UK general election or not, surely, as an expat, you've already voted....with your feet!

It's an expat forum but not everyone is an "ex"