The relation between political parties and voters is usually analyzed in a national framework. However, with international migration a growing number of emigrants have been granted external citizenship, e.g. the right to vote in elections in their country of origin. This paper analyses how parties confront the challenge of having part of the electorate residing in other countries. What are the dynamics of party competition for the emigrant vote? Drawing on a wider project comparing the case of Spain, France, Italy and Romania, this paper compares the transnational mobilization strategies of parties in a framework that includes their political programmes aimed at emigrants and the development of their transnational infra-structure in emigrant residence countries. The analysis focuses on the factors that drive or discourage transnational electoral strategies of political parties. Drawing on a largely qualitative study of national elections in each country, we question to what extent variables such as the past electoral success, electoral competition on the national stage and historical links with emigrant collectives motivate parties to mobilize, chase or indeed ignore the emigrant vote.
