Droit de vote des étrangers au Portugal
In 1971, Brazilian residents were granted voting and eligibility rights in Portugal for municipal elections with a 2 years residency requirement and 4 years for eligibility. In 1982, this provision was extended to Cape Verde residents in the frame of reciprocity between Community of Portuguese Language Countries. It was again extended in 1997, under a general rule of reciprocity but with a 4 years residency requirement, to Peruvian and Uruguayan residents with eligibility (after 5 years of residency) and to residents from Argentina, Chile, Estonia, Israel, Norway and Venezuela without eligibility.[1]
However, in 2005[2] this list of countries was reduced to
- voting rights: the EU countries (now including Estonia), Brazil, Cape Verde, Norway, Uruguay, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina, plus Iceland, thus minus Israel and Peru
- eligibility: the EU countries, Brazil and Cape Verde, thus minus Peru and Uruguay
Some Brazilian residents "with special status" (cidadãos brasileiros com estatuto especial de igualdade de direitos políticos) enjoy voting rights, but not eligibility rights, even for parliamentary and regional elections.[3]
There is a political debate going on as to whether voting rights should be extended to all noncitizen residents, as the reciprocity clause excludes 50% of noncitizen residents. In May 2007, the High Commissioner of Migrations and Ethnic Minorities publicly advocated the abolition of the reciprocity clause and the extension of voting rights for foreign residents to all elections, including parliamentary and presidential elections.[4]