The Foreign Ministry runs public information campaign about voting in the parliamentary elections of 11 December for Romanian nationals living abroad.
According to a government decision, the parliamentary elections will be held on 11 December. To this end, the Foreign Ministry is running a public information campaign on ways of voting while residing abroad. Ministry employees are distributing information literature and applications to register into the Election Registry. Romanians living abroad have a deadline to register as voters by September 14. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ionut Valcu urged citizens to fill in the applications, saying that it only involves a few easy steps:
"You can download the application from the Foreign Ministry website, or you can get it from the Romanian diplomatic and consular offices abroad. You need to fill in the application, tick one of two options, voting by mail or if you want to have a polling station opened close to where you reside abroad. Step two is to attach copies of papers documenting the fact that you reside abroad. In the case of Romanian citizens who have established residence abroad, they only need to attach a copy of their passports with residence in a foreign country, and in the case of people who continue to reside on Romanian territory, it is sufficient to attach a copy of their identity cards or passports, plus a copy of the documents issued by the state of residence attesting their residence in that particular state."
The ministry spokesperson said that the applications to register to vote have to be filed with the nearest consulate or embassy or be posted or e-mailed. The Permanent Election Authority announced on Monday that 8,364 applications have been filed by residents abroad so far. Of them, 6,205 say they wish to vote by mail, while 2,159 have opted for going to a polling station. The Permanent Election Authority has specified that the applications to register for voting by mail have been filed in 40 countries, while the ones opting for polling stations were registered in 33 countries. The localities abroad where the minimum threshold of 100 voters was reached in order to set up a new polling station were Soroca and Causeni in the Republic of Moldova.
In the 2014 election, thousands of Romanians wishing to exercise their right to vote had to wait in very long lines in major European cities such as Paris, London, Vienna and Munich. It remains to be seen what the level of interest will be in the parliamentary elections this winter.
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