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<p> </p><p>Every British citizen who has been registered to vote in the UK within
the last 15 years is eligible to vote in UK Parliamentary (general) elections and
European Parliamentary elections.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Electoral Commission
informs me that the most recent figure showed that there were 15,848 registered overseas
voters on the UK electoral registers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The most recent
estimates of the total number of UK citizens living abroad are of 5.5 million (The
Institute for Public Policy Research in 2006) and 4.7 million (The World Bank in 2010).
However, it is not possible from this data to establish how many citizens living abroad
were registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years and are therefore eligible
to vote from abroad. Even in the absence of a reliable estimate, it is nonetheless
clear that the number of UK citizens living abroad who are eligible to register to
vote is considerably more than those currently registered.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>The Commission runs public awareness campaigns to encourage British expatriates
to register to vote; the most recent took place ahead of the European elections this
year.</p><p> </p>
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