Preparations for the vote in the Diaspora

Nearly 80,000 Romanians living in the Diaspora have signed up for either postal voting or voting in polling stations for the November presidential election

Roxana Vasile, 16.09.2019, 13:55

In the last few years Romanians
living in the Diaspora have hit polling stations early in the morning on
election day, to make sure they manage to exercise their constitutional right.
Huge waiting lines cropped up outside embassies, consular offices or cultural
institutes in many European cities, with Romanians having to wait hours on end
to be able to cast their vote. One reason behind this is the high number of
Romanians choosing to live, study or work abroad in recent years. Another
reason, however, was the deficient election law, which has been recently
modified ahead of the presidential election due in November.

Under the new law,
Romanians abroad will be able to vote during the course of three days, from
Friday till Sunday, while Romanians in the country will hit the polling
stations only on Sunday. Besides, Romanians abroad have had the possibility of expressing
their intentions regarding the voting procedure, by filling on online form on
votstrainatate.ro. Romanians could opt either for postal voting, or for voting
in one of the polling stations set up abroad. Moreover, new voting stations
will be set up in light of data obtained on the website, provided over 100
Romanians in the same town or area have signed up.

As a result, Romanians who
have signed up abroad will be removed from voter lists in Romania and inscribed
on the list of permanent voters abroad, which simplifies the voting process
significantly, as members of election committees will no longer have to fill
the personal data of each voter by hand. The online registration deadline was
September 15, but a mere 41,000 Romanians signed up for postal voting while
39,000 for voting in a polling station. By way of comparison, in the European
Parliament election held in May, some 370,000 Romanians were able to cast their
vote. One of the main elements that deterred Romanians to register online was
the fact that their personal data could end up at the National Agency for
Fiscal Administration. The president of the Permanent Election Authority,
Constantin-Florin Mituletu-Buica, has repeatedly stated that the personal data
of Romanians who register online for the presidential election will be used
exclusively for that purpose, while any misinformation in that respect is aimed
at deterring people from exercising their right to vote. The difference between
the two figures has prompted many to expect the same endless waiting lines for
the presidential election as well.

(Translated by V. Palcu)