Richard Beran

The Czech Republic is one of five EU countries where it is not possible at least for some citizens living abroad to vote by correspondence. The same is true for Croatia, Iceland, Malta and France. However, the latter has introduced the possibility to vote from abroad via the internet from 2020. Though, the possibility of voting by correspondence from abroad appears in the new Czech government's programme statement.[1] Does this mean that in the beginning of the post-Covid period, it will be introduced soon?

Citizens of the Czech Republic who vote abroad, for whatever reason, have to overcome several obstacles to get to the ballot box and this has been particularly true during the public health emergency. In most cases, this involves hundreds of kilometres travelled and a huge amount of money spent on trips to the embassy. According to many experts and representatives of the Czech Government, the possibility of voting by correspondence from abroad would solve this. But is it as simple as it seems?

The answer is clear. It is not. There are several reasons, but I would like to highlight the two most important ones from my point of view.

The first is political representation[2] and the mood in the Chamber of Deputies. The last parliamentary term was already tense because of the covid-19 pandemic. The then position was hammering the government for almost every move it made. Now that the sides of the coin have turned, it is the same. Perhaps even worse, if we assess it by the bills passed and their referral for further readings. The current opposition, made up of the SPD and the ANO movement, launches several hours of obstruction on every controversial item, which essentially prevents the matter from being debated substantially. And it is no different with the correspondence vote from abroad. The reason why this may be the case should be the results of the election from abroad[3] , which show that the majority of foreign-based Czech citizens do not support with their votes the oppositional parties. From a political point of view, it will therefore be very difficult to enforce the option of postal voting from abroad.

The second reason is whether the amendment to the Electoral Act including the possibility of voting by correspondence from abroad is in line with the Constitution. According to Article 18(1) of the Constitution, elections to the Chamber of Deputies must be held by secret ballot on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage, in accordance with the principle of proportional representation. The main difficulty with postal voting is the principle of secret ballot. In the polling station, the voter puts his vote himself in a clean envelope behind a screen, so that no one can see how he has decided to vote. (Interestingly, plurality in the polling station was not introduced until after 1968.) However, in the case of postal voting, the state is unable to ensure that voters are not forced by someone close to them to vote for an entity they do not want to vote for. Each voter has to ensure that for himself. This raises the question of whether this is such a strong argument that it would essentially deny the right to vote to Czech citizens residing abroad. However, this is a question that Members of Parliament will have to answer in the coming months.

However, personally for me, there is one more question, namely whether citizens who live permanently abroad are entitled to vote in elections concerning the Czech Republic. After all, if they pay taxes abroad, why should they vote in elections in the Czech Republic, where they essentially decide what happens to those taxes? If we use a comparison, one of the principles of Anglo-Saxon constitutional law is that "no taxation without representation", i.e. no taxation without representation. Of course, in this case it would mean that foreigners who live in the Czech Republic and thus pay taxes here should have the right to vote.

On the other hand, foreign-based Czech citizens are still citizens of the Czech Republic, they have a certain relationship with this country and in most cases they regularly return to the country for shorter or longer periods. In my opinion, this is another issue that parliamentary Members should address.

In the light of these considerations, the question is whether the Chamber of Deputies will get to discuss postal voting from abroad during this term. And if so, whether it will be set up legislatively in such a way that it complies with the Constitution of the Czech Republic and does not violate the principles of the electoral process for the Chamber of Deputies, which are laid down in Article 18 of the Constitution. During the potential reconsideration of this matter, the experienced diversity of public health restrictions and the difficulties caused by these measures for Czech voters living abroad to approach diplomatic missions shall be also taken into account.

May 2022

[1] https://www.vlada.cz/cz/programove-prohlaseni-vlady-193547/

[2] https://www.psp.cz/sqw/hp.sqw?k=1003

[3] https://volby.cz/pls/ps2021/ps361?xjazyk=CZ

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The views expressed above belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centre for Social Sciences.