AMN takes CEC's refusal to open polling stations abroad to ECHR

The Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) rejected the appeal of Moldova Noastra Alliance's on Friday, March 6, and thus left as valid the decision of the Chisinau Appellate Court not to oblige the Central Election Commission (CEC) to open additional polling stations abroad. The AMN announces it will sue the SCJ's decision in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as part to a similar case already under the ECHR's, Info-Prim Neo reports. The AMN sued the CEC's refusal to open polling stations abroad, in the countries where many Moldovan migrants work. The AMN asks the Appellate Court to oblige the CEC to set up 20 additional voting stations: 5 in Romania, by 3 in Italy, Russia, Ukraine, the USA, 2 in Portugal and one in Ireland. But the SCJ has rejected the AMN's request. “We'll necessarily sue this decision at the ECHR,” AMN's representative Nicolae Railean has told journalists. Earlier, the Liberal Democratic Party from Moldova (PLDM) lodged a complaint to the ECHR on the same issue, yet without passing through the Moldovan courts. The AMN will join the trial. “We'll send the reasoned decision of the SCJ by e-mail as soon as we get it,” Railean said. The AMN representative considers that the electoral legislation allows the CEC to open polling stations abroad outside diplomatic missions, but there is no political will in this respect. On the other hand, CEC member Pavel Midrigan says the Commission is not authorized to open polling stations abroad, outside embassies and consulates, but the relations with other states are the exclusive competence of the Government, through the agency of the Foreign Ministry. Besides the 50-million-lei budget to hold the elections does not envisage means to open additional stations, says the CEC member. Pavel Midrigan considers the SCJ's writ as “legal and reasonable in this situation.” According to official data, over 300,000 Moldovan are abroad, but unofficially this number is set higher. Moldova has about 30 diplomatic representations abroad.