# Which countries have foreign electoral districts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871 "2019-06-01T12:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871/1 "2019-06-01T12:30:22Z")
A lot of countries permit citizens living overseas to vote in elections of the national legislature. Normally, these votes are counted as if they came from a particular inland electoral district (typically whatever district the citizen was last resident in before moving abroad, though rules vary from country to country). France and Italy are unusual in that they partition the rest of the world into foreign constituencies, each of which elects its own dedicated representatives to the legislature. France has eleven foreign districts, each of which sends one representative to the National Assembly, and Italy has four foreign districts, each of which returns one or two members to the Senate and one to five to the Chamber of Deputies. Are there any other countries that have these sort of foreign constituencies? Is there a full list? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871/2 "2019-06-01T21:39:21Z")
Wikipedia has a page about rights of ex-pats to vote abroad, though it’s not exactly comprehensive. [Right of expatriates to vote in their country of origin - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_expatriates_to_vote_in_their_country_of_origin#Ireland) The only country they mention as having what you’re talking about, apart from the ones you mentioned, is Columbia, where one Representative is elected by foreign registered citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871/3 "2019-06-02T02:28:53Z")
It’s my understanding that France’s foreign districts are districts like any other, which just happen to be geographically separated from the rest of the country. So a Frenchman in French Guiana, for instance, would vote in French Guiana, in much the same way that an American in Alaska would vote in Alaska. But that would have no relevance for a French ex-pat living in the US, or somewhere else outside of any French district. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871/4 "2019-06-02T03:00:57Z")
No, the overseas districts (e.g. st pierre et Miquelon) are differs from the representatives for French citizens abroad. For example French citizens in the US and Canada are an electoral district. See the wiki article: > **[Constituencies for French residents overseas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constituencies_for_French_residents_overseas)** > > The constituencies for French residents overseas (French: Circonscriptions législatives des Français établis hors de France) are eleven constituencies, each electing one member of the National Assembly. > They were created by the 2010 redistricting of French legislative constituencies, the aim of which was to enable French citizens overseas (Français établis hors de France) to be represented as such, rather than vote in a constituency on French territory, as was the case previously. Their creation... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-countries-have-foreign-electoral-districts/834871/5 "2019-06-02T12:42:33Z")
Ah, OK, I didn’t realize that those were two different things.