Foreign residents of Benidorm can already register to vote in the municipal elections

On the occasion of the celebration on May 28 of the municipal elections, Benidorm City Council and Alicante Provincial Council have scheduled an information day in the City Hall Assembly Hall with the aim of facilitating the exercise of the vote to the community of residents foreign.

The act, which has also been broadcast by streaming through the municipal social networks, has had the participation of the mayor, Toni Pérez; the Councilor for Foreign Residents, Ana Pellicer; the provincial deputy for International Residents, Juan de Dios Navarro; the vice-consul of the United Kingdom in Alicante, Sara Munsterhjem; and the representative of the association for interculturality Babelia, Brahim El-Habid Draoui.

Toni Pérez welcomed the attendees and the people who were following the broadcast from their screens and thanked the effort made by the International Residents area of ​​the Provincial Council to "promote the right to vote for those international residents who share their lives with us”, recalling that in some of their countries of origin there have been relevant changes, as is the case of the British with Brexit.

The mayor has valued the work done by the British embassy and the consulate of this country in Alicante towards its nationals "the most numerous" among the international residents of Benidorm, which total of 3,389 people registered in the city, according to the INE (Institute National Statistics).

For his part, Juan de Dios Navarro recalled that the foreign population reaches 20% of the total in the province and that the president of the Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, has set himself the objective of bringing all the information they need to all people to that "they are comfortable" and that "they can exercise the vote as one more right." Navarro specified that today, December 1, the period for them to register on the electoral roll has begun.

In the province of Alicante, according to him, as of January 1, there were 384,907 foreign nationals on the census, of which 75,263 are British. Sara Munsterhjem has addressed them especially, who in her intervention. She has detailed the changes that have occurred after the entry into force of Brexit and has informed them of the steps they must take to be able to freely exercise the right to vote. For his part, Brahim El-Habid Draoui has focused his intervention on the most general aspects and has stressed that people who can participate in the elections will receive prior notification from the INE.

Finally, Ana Pellicer has dismissed the act addressing the local foreign residents to whom she has reiterated that the Department of Foreign Residents can help them "in case of any doubt that may arise" and has indicated that there is a contact telephone number for it, 966 815 523, as well as the email address: residenteextranjero@benidorm.org.

The video of this joint initiative of the Benidorm City Council and the Alicante Provincial Council can be viewed at https://youtu.be/e7JgIj6cRso