A Romanian who currently lives in the UK has decided to sue the British Government for not allowing him to vote in the recent elections.

Romanian Tommy Tomescu is a dentist, and politician, currently residing in the UK. Although he doesn’t have British citizenship, he believes that he should have had the right to vote in the recent elections organized in the country, because he is a European citizen. But because he couldn’t cast his vote, he decided to sue the British Government.

“EU treaties say that European citizens, throughout the European Union, will have the right to engage in the democratic life of the EU. Elections are currently taking places on four levels: supranational, national, regional and local. European citizens who are residents in another member state than the one in which they citizens can vote in supranational elections, even if they are in another state,” said Tomescu, cited by local Digi24.

“We think it is a discrimination that citizens residing in other countries are not allowed to vote on a national level,” he added.

In 2014, Tomescu ran for the European Parliament Elections in the UK and managed to get 11,000 votes, six weeks after he set up a party. The British law allows a resident to establish a political party, even he doesn’t have British citizenship.

According to Tomescu, the reasons for which the British authorities don’t allow him to vote are not convincing. One of the reasons was related to reciprocity, but the argument does not stand, because, for example, those in the Commonwealth are allowed to vote. Those from Australia and Canada are also allowed to vote, and so do people from Pakistan. As a result, the Romanian sued the British government. He believes Romanians should be allowed to vote in the country where they live.

The UK held general elections on May 7, to elect its 56th Parliament.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Tommy Tomescu on Facebook)