Transnational voting practices among Colombian migrants in London and Madrid: The Colombian 2010 Elections from the UK and Spain

This report outlines the findings from a research project that examined the voting patterns among Colombian migrants living in the UK (London) and Spain (Madrid) in relation to the Colombian Congressional and Presidential elections of 2010. This forms the European component of a larger comparative study with colleagues in the US, Colombia and France. The project aimed to identify the motivations behind migrants’ participation in home country elections, as well as the barriers to the exercise of the external vote. It also aimed to examine how and why experiences of voting differ across different countries. It was set within the wider context of how governments of the home countries of migrants have increasingly extended political rights to their country people residing abroad, especially in Latin America. While some fear that maintaining strong political ties with countries of origin is detrimental to the political engagement of migrants in destinations, others have highlighted how migrants participate in both countries simultaneously. Although there has been increasing recognition that transnationalism and integration are not mutually exclusive, much of this theorising is in its infancy. Empirically, this project has examined a fairly neglected ‘new migrant group’ in Europe focusing on Colombian migrants in the UK and Spain (see also McIlwaine et al., 2011). The Colombian case is especially important as the state has pioneered the extension of political rights to expatriates living abroad giving them the right to vote in congressional elections and choose a representative from the diaspora (the first in Latin America).Peer Reviewe