Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson meeting with Carlos de Sousa Amaro, Consul General of Portugal (far right).
The Chief Electoral Officer has been called on to instruct local offices to accept ethnic minority photographic ID issued by their national authorities for this month’s elections.
The call comes from outing Sinn MEP Martina Anderson who claimed members of ethnic minority communities were being denied their democratic right to vote through “inconsistent decisions” which only applied to the North of Ireland.
Ms Anderson, who is seeking re-election in the 22 May European election, added: “Some ethnic communities, such as the Portuguese do not have access to Passport renewal facilities here and must travel to Manchester to renew their passports.
“This necessitates long journeys by road and sea ferry as most airlines require a valid Passport to travel.
“However, most foreign nationals possess photographic ID issued by their respective national authorities. This ID is acceptable for voting purposes in the south of Ireland and in Britain but it is not accepted here.
“And there is an inconsistency in how it is viewed by local electoral offices as sufficient to issue an Electoral Office ID.”
Ms Anderson concluded: Some offices will accept it and others will not. I am therefore calling on the Chief Electoral Officer to issue instructions to all offices that in line with the south of Ireland and Britain that national photographic ID from the person’s country of origin is acceptable for both voting purposes and for the issuing of official electoral office ID.
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