Parliamentary elections and a national consultative referendum take place in Moldova on February 24 and the polling places are opened at 7am and are closed at 9pm. If there are voters who didn’t manage to cast their ballots inside the polling place at the closing hour, these will be allowed to vote. The persons who cannot go to the polling place for health reasons, can submit an applications and ask to be allowed to vote by the mobile ballot box. Today such applications can be filed by 3pm and a medical certificate should also be presented, IPN reports.

On February 24, for the first time in the Republic of Moldova, the 101 MPs are elected based on the mixed electoral system under which 50 MPs are elected based on party lists in the national constituency, while 51 MPs are elected in 51 single-member constituencies.

When the voters are inside the polling place, they present to the operator the identity card of the citizen of the Republic of Moldova with the accompanying loose leaf that confirms the person has the domicile or residence in the area covered by the polling place or other papers, such as the temporary identity card that includes mentions about the Moldovan nationality and the holder’s domicile, the soldier’s record and the small book issued by the Civil Service Center to persons who do the civil military service (alternative). Based on the identity card, the operator will check in the State Register of Voters (SRV) if the person can vote namely at the given polling place and if this didn’t vote at another polling place in the same elections.

After being checked in the State Register of Voters, the voter will present an identification paper to the member of the electoral office of the polling place and will then put the signature against his/her name where there will be two divisions – one for the parliamentary elections and one for the referendum. In the loose leaf accompanying the identity card, the member of the electoral office will put the stamp “Elections 24.02.19” and then the voter will receive two ballots for the parliamentary  elections and two ballots for the national consultative referendum from the member of the electoral office. The voter can decide whether to take part in the parliamentary elections and in the referendum or only in one of these.

For the national constituency, the ballot is smoke gray in color, while that for single-member constituencies is violet in color. For the referendum, the ballot with the question “Do you want the number of MPs to be reduced from 101 to 61?”, is pale yellow, while that with the question “Do you want the MPs to be recalled if these do not fulfil their duties?” is beige.

After receiving the ballot, the voter goes to the polling booth and puts the stamp “Voted” in each of the two ballots for the parliamentary elections, inside the circle from the rectangle with the name of the candidate or of the electoral contender that this wants to vote. The circles inside the other rectangles  should remain clean. In the ballot for the consultative referendum, the voter will put the stamp “Voted” inside one circle below the rectangle where it is written “For” or “Against”.

If the voter damaged a ballot or voted for another contender than the desired one out of inattention  and didn’t put the given ballot in the ballot box, this has the right to ask a new ballot, but only once. The spoiled ballot will be annulled and this fact will be indicated in the electoral list and in the proceedings.

Starting at 3pm, at least two members of the electoral office of the polling place will travel to the voter’s place with a mobile box and with the necessary supplies. These can be accompanied by observers, journalists or a police officer, if necessary. The persons who vote with the mobile ballot box are put on an additional list compiled for voting at the place of stay by the electoral office of the polling place. In the voter rolls, the mention “Voted at the place of stay” is written against the name of the given person who voted.

Electoral agitation is permitted on the election day, except for polling places and entrances to them. Amendments to this effect were adopted by Parliament on November 23, 2018.