Later this month, he'll finally be able to vote himself.

"I'm bound more to the Czech Republic than to Germany," he said. "I'm not too into politics, but I'm interested in participating in the future of this country."

The municipal elections Oct. 20–

21 will determine city and town councils, which will then elect mayors from their ranks. They're the first held since the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, meaning that, for the first time, EU citizens living here are eligible to participate, provided they hold permanent residency status (trvaly pobyt) and are at least 18.

EU member states of the EU are required to extend this right to each other's citizens in municipal government and European Parliament (EP) elections. It's up to each country whether it wants also to extend this right to national elections. The Czech Republic has opted not to.

"It's one of the rights of the so-called 'European citizen,' " said Hubert Smekal, an instructor in political science at Masaryk University in Brno, south Moravia.

According to the last tally, in 2005, this means that more than 43,000 non-Czechs — predominately Poles, Slovaks and Germans — with permanent residency status are entitled to cast a ballot later this month.

A helping hand

Many foreign residents are not aware they have this right. And, if they are, they have trouble figuring out the complicated registration and voting process, Green Party Deputy Chairman Petr Štěpánek says.

Until now, this information was only available in Czech.

The Greens have produced an information packet focused on helping eligible foreigners to vote. Available in English, French and Polish, it walks its reader, step by step, through the municipal election process.

"These individuals live here, with all the meaning of the word," said Štěpánek. "These are local elections, and local councils determine how you feel and live, and the quality of life in your neighborhood."

Straub only recently found out about his voting rights after the topic came up at a business lunch, when several of his colleagues raised the issue. Although Straub has regular contact with the German Embassy and reads local newspapers in English, German and Czech, he hadn't been aware of his eligibility.

"Nobody really informed us officially about this," he said. "I've never been informed that I have the right to vote, or been invited to vote."

The issue has simply slipped under most people's radar, said Jan Zahradil, a member of the Civic Democratic Party and a delegate to the EP.

"This was somehow overlooked by most of the parties," he said. "If the Green Party has taken the initiative, then that's good. It might make some sense for us to do [the same] in the future."

Foreigners can contact their particular embassy for a copy of the Greens' voting guidelines, and have until 4 p.m. Oct. 18 to register at the town hall of the district they live in.

Just how many foreigners will decide to vote in the coming elections remains to be seen.

In the EP elections held in 2004, only 99 foreigners with Czech residency status turned out to vote, according to the Interior Ministry.

Overall, turnout among Czech citizens has traditionally been low, according to the Czech Statistical Office: Only 43 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2002 municipal elections.