Voting in Italy

[liketheroman]

I have not found anything on this in my searches but please shoot me down if this is not true.

According to the Treaty of Amsterdam I know I am entitled to vote in every type of election except for the one that appoints a national government. This was certainly true for my wife in Britain (a communist voting tory, what a proud day that was).

However how do you make this happen? Has anyone voted? And I have also been unsuccessful in achieveing a postal vote in GB.

[Relaxed]

You are corect in your understanding that you (as a resident non-Italian) have a right to vote except in national elections or referenda.

The formalities are all handled by the comune, and mostly (in my experience) you have to go and badger them into giving you the relevant papers. This requires very precise timing - like most things in Italy it is very difficult to do it 'ahead of time', but it is equally very difficult not to miss the deadline!

Voting in European elections is slightly more complex, because the comune must be convinced that you are not voting in these elections using your British electoral identity. They have been known to request a letter from the 'Mayor of your English Comune' as proof - but this has perhaps been made simpler recently.