At the new local elections of November 21, the organized transportation of voters will be banned. A decision to this effect is to be approved by the Central Election Commission. CEC deputy chairman Pavel Postica said there is a bill that bans the transportation of voters to the polls, but Parliament hasn’t yet adopted it and the Commission therefore assumes responsibility for introducing such a ban, IPN reports.
The bill to amend the electoral legislation that was recently approved by the Government stipulates such penalties as fines and even up to three years in jail for the organized transportation of voters to polling places.
“Parliament is unable to adopt this bill in two readings by this Sunday. Therefore, the Central Election Commission decided to follow the path paved in 2020 so that CEC, based on its duties, can prevent any violation of the electoral process and takes decisions that would diminish the number of violations. There is consensus inside the Commission as to the necessity of such a decision. We are now considering the details,” Pavel Postica stated in the talk show “Emphasis on Today” on TVR Moldova channel.
He noted the CEC’s decision will not stipulate punishment for the organized transportation of voters, but the law enforcement agencies have enough instruments to fight this phenomenon.
“Currently, there is no specific penalty for the organized transportation of voters, but there are sufficient possibilities for the law to document cases of illegal transportation of passengers. At the start of the election campaign, we adopted a decision by which we set down a number of responsibilities for the Ministry of the Interior, the General Police Inspectorate, the National Road Transport Agency. All the passenger transportation routes must have the required documents and illegal transportation of voters is banned, regardless of the destination,” stated the CEC deputy chairman.
New local mayoral elections on November 21 will be held in 15 Moldovan settlements, including the municipality of Bălți. According to the Central Election Commission, over 130,600 electors are expected to cast their ballots this Sunday.
