Ukrainian language guides on local elections in Ireland and getting on the electoral register have been published as the number of potential eligible voters among refugees from Ukraine tops 55,500.
The next local election is due to take place next June and the guide explains how every person over the age of 18 is entitled to register to vote in the area where they ordinarily live to elect county and city councillors.
Irish citizenship is not a requirement for voting at a local election, though only Irish or EU citizens can vote in European elections which will be held on the same day next year.
Some 91,464 people from Ukraine had fled to Ireland in the wake of Russia’s war on their country as of last weekend.
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Of these, 55,567 are aged 18 and over and would be eligible to vote if they stayed in Ireland and registered in advance of polling day which will be on an as-yet undecided date between June 6th and June 9th, 2024.
The Ukrainian language guide, “How Members of Local Authorities are Elected” briefly sets out Ireland’s system of county and city councils across 31 local authorities.
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Published last week, it covers who can vote and how Irish citizens or people ordinarily resident in the State are eligible to stand for election as well as how candidates are nominated.
There is an explanation of Ireland’s PR-STV (proportional representation-single transferable vote) system and what forms of identification are accepted at a polling station.
It also explains the Register of Electors and how an application to register must be received at least 15 days before polling day.
A further Ukrainian language guide entitled “Voting: The Register of Electors” was published in July.
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The Department of Housing and Local Government, which published the guides said: “As the English language is not the first language for many people living here, the guide on how members of local authorities are elected has been available in a range of different languages.”
These include Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese Romanian, Russian, Slovakian and Spanish.
A statement added: “With the increase in the number of people of Ukrainian nationality now living in Ireland and with the upcoming local elections in 2024, a version of the guide in Ukrainian has been added to the published list.”
