Right of foreigners to vote

By Banjongsan Winyarat,
LL.B.,LL.M.,M.B.A.(U.S.A.)


Suffrage, the right to vote in a particular country, generally derives from citizenship. In most countries, the right to vote is reserved to those who possess the citizenship of the country in question. Some countries, however, have extended suffrage rights to non-citizens. Suffrage rights extended to non-citizens are often restricted or limited in some ways, with the details of the restrictions or limitations varying from one country to another.

United States, more than 20 states or territories, including colonies before the Declaration of Independence, admitted foreigners' right to vote for all elections. As of May 2010, however, most of those foreign voting and office holding rights have been repealed and at present no foreigner may vote at the national or state level in the US, and only a handful of local governments allow foreigners to vote. These few foreign voting rights at the local level have been granted to non-citizens by state governments from 1968 onwards.

In Thailand, according to section 99 of The Constitution of Thailand 2550 B.E., say that a person who has the rights to vote must have the qualification to vote at an election is being of Thai nationality.

Source: wikipedia.org, constitution of Thailand 2550 B.E.