Talks on Diaspora Voting

Following the meeting on Thursday with the MPs representing the Diaspora in the Romanian Parliament, the head of state, Klaus Iohannis, is not sure the law on postal voting will be adopted by the end of the current parliamentary session.

România Internațional, 22.05.2015, 13:56

One of the political priorities announced by Romaniaa President Klaus Iohannis, shortly after taking over the office, in December last year, was the adoption of the new election laws, among which the one on postal voting. The latter was persistently requested especially by the Romanians living abroad, following the resounding scandal marring Novembers presidential election, when thousands of people could not vote because of the poor organization of the ballots.

The Social Democratic Party, the main party in the ruling coalition, was blamed for the way in which the two rounds of election were organized, with thousands of Romanians in the Diaspora queuing for hours to cast their votes. The issue concerning the election laws, the one on postal voting in particular, was again tackled in April, when the head of state and the parliamentary parties agreed that the entire legislative package should be adopted by the end of the current parliamentary session.

After one month exactly, President Iohannis talked to those who represent the Diaspora in Parliament. He said he was not confident that the deadline would be observed, especially with regard to the postal voting law. However, he once again stressed the need for these laws to be passed as soon as possible, so that Romanians living abroad be able to cast their votes under the best possible conditions.

He said the new laws could be applied starting with the 2016 legislative elections only if the law came into force by November. The president called on his interlocutors to get more vocal in the dialogue with the representative of political parties, in order to find a feasible and simple solution, that would entail minimum costs for the Romanian voters outside the countrys borders. The MPs hope that the head of state will “put pressure on parties for them to support postal voting. They have stressed that more MPs to represent Diaspora in the Romanian Parliament are needed, as well as more polling stations and more consular offices abroad.

Also on Thursday, the liberal opposition, too, met with 4 MPs representing the Diaspora. The co-president of the National Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, called for the support of the other parliamentary parties for the postal voting law to be passed by the end of the current Parliament session. We recall that during Aprils consultations between the president and representatives of the parliamentary parties, the Social – Democrats said they would like the elections abroad to be managed by the Permanent Election Authority and the Romanians residing abroad to be able to register on election lists 6 months prior to the election proper.