Parties’ Position on Emigration and the Political Representation of Citizens Abroad: An In-Depth Analysis of the Spanish Case

In a context of accelerated human mobility, emigration has become a salient topic of political debate. Widespread policies of enfranchisement of overseas citizens provided an extra stimulus for homeland parties to become attentive to the diaspora and reach out to the extra-territorial electorate. Yet, there is mixed evidence on how parties represent emigrants’ interests: while some support legislation to extend diaspora’s rights and implement outreach activities abroad, others only marginally engage with diasporic communities. We contribute to this literature with new evidence from Spain. Although the Spanish diaspora has become increasingly sizeable and diverse, little is known about Spanish parties’ positions on emigration or their strategies to connect with voters abroad. To fill this gap, this paper combines interviews with party leaders with an analysis of parties’ manifestos since the late 1980s. Our findings show that most Spanish parties have significantly shifted their position on emigration by becoming more attentive to external voters. However, inter-party variations still exist, mainly due to ideology, party competition, and emulation processes of diaspora representation.