Research 38 ILIC 2019

Abstract:  It is evidential that the exercise of political rights as a general rule is restricted to the naturalized citizens, i.e., those who hold the nationality of the state (theoretically at least) without their presence being an obstacle to the exercise of these rights, whether they are residents within or outside the state and residing in foreign countries permanently or temporarily.
This subject has taken another dimension in some countries when the numbers of citizens who are abroad are very large due to accidents, wars and economic crises and different living conditions and crises. Thus, such numbers are gathered in large quantities in more than one foreign country under the name of “national communities.”
The role of these communities has become evident through providing financial benefits, development projects and the acquisition of diverse experiences in their mother country, which has led the state to view these changes as imperative, and granting them representation in national parliaments. In turn, this has resulted in various theoretical directions by constitutional legislators and legislative authorities through the legal texts relating to general elections.
In countries such as Iraq, the Iraqi communities under the constitutional text have the same political rights as the citizens of the state, and their members are entitled to stand for parliamentary councils in their constituencies. However, in other countries, such as Egypt and Algeria, a form of positive discrimination has been adopted and regulated for the benefit of its members living abroad to enable them to win parliamentary seats and represent them in parliamentary assemblies.
Therefore, the study on the subject focused on the analysis of the constitutional and legal texts related to the study terminologies and concepts, comparing between the legal systems under study and it was found that it was limited to specific countries. (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Iraq), consequently, the study reached a set of results and made recommendations for it.
Keywords: national communities, parliament, candidate, mother country, host country, positive discrimination.