The vote abroad: a pending issue for democracy
Nearly 200,000 Catalans live abroad. The size of this community has grown exponentially in the last 6 years, due to the economic crisis and the lack of job opportunities in Spain and Catalonia, especially for youngsters with advanced degrees. Alongside the economic downturn in the south of Europe, the political debate regarding Catalonia’s fitting into Spain has accelerated and several historic occasions for testing support for independence have taken place within a short period of time, including elections and the 9th of November consultation. However, only 7% of the Catalan community living abroad voted in the last Catalan elections in 2012, which is a very poor figure. With this learning experience behind them, Catalan institutions are spreading the word to let more people know about the electoral law, its deadlines and procedures so that the same thing won’t happen again in the 27th of September’s elections.