Election Commission to send 65,000 vote ballots abroad

The Central Election Commission (CEC) will send 64,941 vote ballots to Moldova's diplomatic missions abroad. The embassies have officially registered 17,500 voters, Info-Prim Neo reports. CEC secretary Iurie Ciocan stated at the CEC's sitting on July 21 that more voting ballots are sent to avoid speculations and situations when more people will turn out to vote than the ones registered. Compared to the April 5 elections, the CEC will issue 1,900 more ballots. 16,800 Moldovans went to vote at the Moldovan embassies and consulates. By 5 thousand ballots will be sent to the polling stations opened in Italy – the Bologna-based consulate and the embassy in Rome, although the law provides that a polling station may serve not more than 3,000 voters. “On April 5, 3,388 Moldovans cast their ballots in Bologna without any problems and even more could have voted if they had come,” Iurie Ciocan has specified. 5 thousand ballots will be sent to the Moldovan embassy and 3 thousand – to the consulate in Romania. 33 polling stations will function abroad on July 29, as the number matches the number of Moldovan diplomatic missions. At the same sitting, the CEC has decided to make 2,000 seals with the inscription “Retras” (“withdrawn” to be applied on the ballots next to the candidates who will have abandoned the race) and “Anulat”(“canceled” to be applied on the ballots unused on the vote day). The electoral bureaus of the polling stations have but by one seal and this makes harder the work of the electoral clerks, Iurie Ciocan says.