Emigration and special representation: Evidence from Ecuadorian living abroad

Abstract A vast majority of countries worldwide have granted citizenship rights to their emigrants, in particular external voting and dual citizenship. However, there is a relatively new migrant political transnational practice that home-countries are gradually legislating and implementing: special representation, i.e. emigrant political representation in home-country national legislatures. Nowadays, 14 states in Africa, Europe and Latin America extend direct representation rights to their population residing abroad. Special representation is an interesting phenomenon, highly connected with contemporary discussions in the field of migration studies. Up to date a growing number of studies seek to provide explanations on why and how home-countries are adopting it. In this article, we examine the case of the Ecuadorian special representation through a quantitative research design that takes into account the perceptions of the emigrant voters. Our goal is to determine possible correspondences of this transnational policy via the perception of necessity of having seats reserved for Ecuadorians living abroad on the migrant engagement. Findings highlight significant relations between Ecuadorians who have dual citizenship, members of a civil association, and that indicate a willingness to return with the necessity of reserving seats in the National Assembly for the migrant community.摘要 全球绝大多数国家已赋予本国移民公民权利，尤其是境外选举权与双重国籍（dual citizenship）。然而，母国正逐步通过立法推行一项相对新兴的移民政治跨国实践：特殊代表制（special representation），即赋予移民在母国国家立法机构中的政治代表权。目前，非洲、欧洲与拉丁美洲共有14个国家为其旅居海外的公民赋予直接代表权。 特殊代表制是一项颇具研究价值的现象，与移民研究领域的当代学术议题紧密相关。迄今为止，已有越来越多的研究试图阐释母国采用该机制的动因与实施路径。本文采用定量研究设计，结合移民选民的认知视角，对厄瓜多尔的特殊代表制案例展开分析。本研究旨在通过旅居海外的厄瓜多尔民众对为其预留国民议会专属席位必要性的认知，探究该项跨国政策与移民参与度之间的潜在关联。研究结果显示，持有双重国籍、参与公民社团且表明有回国意愿的厄瓜多尔民众，与支持为移民群体预留国民议会席位必要性的群体之间存在显著关联。