§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate, by country, the number of overseas residents who are eligible to register to vote in British general elections.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information requested is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The table gives an estimate of the number of British citizens living in each country who are likely to have spent fewer than 20 years there. The figures may include people who left the United Kingdom more than 20 years ago, or who were not registered as electors in the United Kingdom when they left as adults, and so do not qualify to register as overseas electors.
Estimates of the number of British citizens who have lived in each country abroad for less than 20 years.
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Country Number Algeria 210 Angola 40 Antigua 50 Argentina 2,500 Ascension 160 Australia 550,000 Austria 4,500 Bahamas 2,500 Bahrain 5,500 Bangladesh 410 Barbados 2,000 Belgium 20,000 Belize 300 Bermuda 3,500 Bolivia 150 Botswana 4,000 Brazil 6,550 Brunei 1,450 Bulgaria 60 Burma 30 Canada 1,025,000 Canary Islands 22,500 Cayman Islands 2,000 Chile 1,250 China 480 Colombia 1,000 Congo 60 Costa Rica 200 Cuba 10 Cyprus 8,000 Czechoslovakia 30 Denmark 8,000 East Germany 70 Ecuador 480 Egypt 2,200 E1 Salvador 60 Ethiopia 300 Falkland Islands 500 Fiji 400 Finland 300 France 315,000 Gabon 200 Gambia 30 Ghana 500 900W
Country Number Gibraltar 5,500 Greece 9,000 Grenada 300 Guatemala 20 Guinea 50 Guinea-Bissau 20 Guyana 150 Honduras 180 Hong Kong 18,000 Hungary 450 Iceland 400 India 6,980 Indonesia 2,500 Iraq 1,000 Israel 50,000 Italy 28,800 Ivory Coast 9,300 Jamaica 1,500 Japan 200 Jordan 1,000 Kenya 8,000 Kiribati 45 Korea 480 Kuwait 6,000 Lebanon 320 Lesotho 360 Liberia 400 Libya 4,500 Luxembourg 2,000 Macao 90 Madagascar 100 Malawi 4,000 Malaysia 2,340 Malta 2,000 Mauritius 690 Mexico 1,300 Mongolia 10 Montserrat 20 Morocco 440 Mozambique 500 Nepal 500 Netherlands 20,000 New Zealand 750,000 Nicaragua 250 Nigeria 4,700 North Yemen 70 Norway 6,500 Oman 4,500 Pakistan 550 Panama 20 Papau New Guinea 4,000 Paraquay 150 Peru 500 Phillipines 910 Poland 100 Portugal 9,000 Qatar 4,000 Republic of Ireland 150,000 Rumania 2 St. Helena 100 St. Kitts 100 St. Lucia 400 St. Vincent 160 Saudi Arabia 23,000 Senegal 90 Seychelles 300 Singapore 5,000 Solomon Islands 400 Somalia 150 South Africa 210,000 South Korea 800 Spain 59,000 Sri Lanka 1,000 Sudan 1,000 Swaziland 2,000 Sweden 10,000 Switzerland 22,050 Syria 400
Country Number Tanzania 1,360 Thailand 2,000 Tonga 100 Trinidad 600 Tunisia 200 Turkey 1,000 Turks and Caicos Islands 200 Uganda 670 United Arab Emirates 23,500 Uruguay 120 USA 470,000 USSR 800 Vanuatu 450 Venezuela 2,000 Vietnam 20 Virgin Islands 350 West Germany 59,300 Yugoslavia 200 Zaire 200 Zambia 4,700 Zimbabwe 5,000
§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state how many overseas residents, by country, are currently registered to vote in British elections; and if he will give the equivalent figures for each of the past five years.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The number of attestations of overseas electors' declarations carried out by consular officials in each country is available centrally for 1986, the first year of operation of the overseas franchise introduced by the Representation of the People Act 1985, and is given in the following table; this information is not available for subsequent years. The total number in 1986 was slightly greater than the total number who were registered that year (11,100), since a number of declarations were either not received by the electoral registration officer or were rejected.
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Overseas electors, 1986 Country Number of attestations Afghanistan 9 Algeria 7 Angola 4 Anguilla 3 Antigua and Barbuda 18 Argentina 2 Australia 228 Austria 78 Bahamas 71 Bahrain 127 Bangladesh 22 Barbados 31 Belgium 324 Belize 7 Bermuda 34 Bolivia 3 Botswana 142 Brazil 74 Brunei 127 Bulgaria 4 Burma 3 Cameroon 19 Canada 52 Cayman Island 34 Chile 5 China 63 Colombia 5 Congo 1 902W
Country Number of attestations Costa Rica 8 Cuba 2 Cyprus 193 Czechoslovakia 2 Denmark 36 Dominica 5 Ecuador 8 Egypt 83 Equatorial Guinea 1 Ethiopia 36 Falkland Islands 24 Fiji 57 Finland 14 France 507 Gabon 24 Gambia 11 German Democratic Republic 2 Federal Republic of Germany 344 Ghana 33 Gibraltar 14 Greece 148 Grenada 10 Guatemala 4 Guyana 6 Hong Kong 304 Iceland 1 India 43 Indonesia 145 Iran 6 Iraq 34 Ireland, Republic of 58 Israel 54 Italy 222 Ivory Coast 21 Jamaica 36 Japan 114 Jordan 47 Kenya 179 Kiribati 331 Korea, Republic of 44 Kuwait 135 Lesotho 40 Liberia 20 Luxembourg 46 Madagascar 4 Malawi 54 Malaysia 147 Malta 59 Mauritius 18 Mexico 15 Mongolia 1 Montserrat 2 Morocco 15 Mozambique 14 Nepal 43 Netherlands 243 New Zealand 141 Nigeria 80 Norway 138 Oman 332 Pakistan 37 Papua New Guinea 215 Paraguay 9 Peru 45 Philippines 62 Poland 18 Portugal 113 Qatar 193 St. Helena 8 St. Kitts and Nevis 2 St. Vincent 15 Saudi Arabia 811 Senegal 38 Seychelles 10 Sierra Leone 55 Singapore 284 Solomon Islands 36
Country Number of attestations Somalia 2 South Africa 499 Soviet Union 11 Spain 1,532 Sri Lanka 38 Sudan 14 Swaziland 23 Sweden 53 Switzerland 206 Syria 2 Tanzania 82 Thailand 84 Tonga 2 Trinidad and Tobago 23 Tunisia 15 Turkey 45 Uganda 35 United Arab Emirates 459 United States of America 656 Uruguay 4 Vanuatu 13 Venezuela 19 Virgin Islands (British) 2 Yemen Arab Republic 26 Yemen, Peoples Democratic Republic 6 Yugoslavia 5 Zaire 18 Zambia 102 Zimbabwe 92 12,266