The Moldovan citizens who are abroad in the parliamentary elections of February 24 will not be able to vote in the parliamentary elections of February 24 based on expired identity cards and passports. The Constitutional Court (CC) rejected the ombudsman’s application by which he demanded to examine the constitutionality of the ban on voting imposed on the Moldovans from the diaspora, based on expired papers, IPN reports.
In his application, ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai said the ban on voting abroad based on expired identity cards or passports is contrary to the Constitution. According to him, the ban represents differentiated treatment in relation to the citizens who vote in the country, who can vote based on identification papers, including temporary ones. Such differentiated treatment significantly affects the electoral rights of the citizens from the diaspora and violates their right to elect.
After examining the application, the CC said the validity of the passport is the only requirement imposed on the Moldovans who want to vote at polling places abroad and such a demand is justified by the state policies aimed avoiding election rigging, maintaining a connection between the state and the citizens and encouraging the holding of valid identification papers.
The Court noted the period of validity of passports is ten years for persons who reached the age at which they can vote. “The parliamentary elections or the presidential ones are usually held once in force years and are thus predictable. The period between elections is sufficiently long to enable the citizens who want to vote to ask for a valid passport. They can solve the problems related to the validity of passports beforehand, even if they have to travel home,” runs the CC’s judgement.
The Constitutional Court also classed as inadmissible the applications submitted by the representatives of the Party of Socialists and of the electoral bloc ACUM, who asked to verify the constitutionality of the Government decision concerning the number of polling places that will be established abroad.
The Court held that to ascertain a violation of the right to vote, an interference in its essence should occur. The authors of the challenges do not show how the essence of the right to vote was affected by the adopted measures that were challenged. The Government didn’t affect the essence of the right to vote of the Moldovans abroad, but took measures to ensure the citizens outside the country can vote. Such a conclusion is also based on a study carried out by the European Court of Human Rights, according to which some of the European states do not allow the citizens who live outside the country to vote after a particular period of time. Other states allow voting only with the permission of the host country. The Moldovan citizens can exercise the right to vote at polling places in other countries or in Moldova.
Both of the decisions are definitive and cannot be appealed and take effect when they are adopted and are published in the Official Gazette.
