Parliamentary elections are held in Moldova today, November 30. More than 3 million people eligible to vote are expected to take part in them. The polling places open at 7am and close at 9pm. The persons who cannot go to the polling place for health reasons can ask to be allowed to vote at the place where they are today as well. The applications for voting through the mobile box can be submitted, in written form, by 3pm, and must be accompanied by a medical certificate, IPN reports.
There were printed 3 117 151 ballots, 2 407 154 of which in Romanian, while 709 997 in Russian. There were established 2,073 polling places, 95 of which abroad. The voters from Transnistria, Bender and some settlements of Causeni district, which are temporarily outside the sovereign control of the Moldovan constitutional authorities, will vote at 26 polling places whose addresses are available on the website of the Central Election Commission. In 56 polling places set up in the country and in one abroad (Timisoara, Romania), the people with visual impairments will be able to vote by ballots in Braille.
The electronic register of voters will be used in these elections. The voters will cover three steps until they get a ballot: will register in the electoral register; will put their signature on the voter rolls, and will have a stamp put in their identity cards. In the country, the people will be able to vote using the identity card with the accompanying loose leaf, the temporary identity card indicating the domicile or the work permit of servicepersons. The Moldovans who will vote outside the country can do it only with the passport or the sailor’s record book.
The parliamentary elections will be supervised by over 4,000 observers – 3,192 national ones and 816 international ones. The largest part of the national observers accredited represent the Association “Promo-LEX”, while of international observers – the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), including members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, who represent 42 countries.
The voters will be able to put the stamp “voted” next to one of the 24 election runners: the Democratic Party of Moldova; the Christian Democratic People’s Party; the People’s Force Party; the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova; the Liberal Reformist Party; the Communist Reformist Party; the People’s Movement “Antimafie” Party; the National Liberal Party; the Party of Socialists; the Electoral Bloc “Moldova’s Choice – the Customs Union”; the Party “Democracy at Home”; the People’s Party; the Party of Communists; the Liberal Party; the Party “Renastere”; the Democratic Action Party; the Green Ecologist Party; Oleg Cernei; Oleg Brega; the Party “Moldova’s Patriots”; Valeriu Plesca; Anatolie Doga; the Centrists Union of Moldova; and the Party “For Nation and Country”.
The Party “Patria”, which was removed from the electoral race by court decision, will have the stamp “withdrawn” next to its name in the ballot.
For the elections to be validated, the voter turnout must be at least 1/3 of the people with the right to vote. The election threshold for a political organization is 6%, for an electoral bloc consisting of three and more parties– 11%, while for independent candidates - 2%. The seats that would have been won by the election runners that didn’t pass the election threshold will be equally redistributed among the parties that will enter Parliament.
The voter turnout in the November 2010 parliamentary elections was 65.5%.
