Long queues outside polling stations 'not a worry'

The chairmen of the four polling stations opened in Chisinau for the Romanian presidential poll are optimistic about the long waiting lines outside the stations, saying all the voters will be able to vote until 21:00, the closing hour. By contrast, the queuing people are concerned that their wait will be in vain. Alexandru Muresan, charge d'affaires at the Romanian Embassy in Chisinau, says that by midday the Romanian authorities thought it would be wise to ask for the extension of the closing hour for the polling places in Moldova. “We thought we should ask for a solution, because we were seeing how many persons willing to vote gathered at the gates of the stations. But we are optimistic about it and hope we will manage by 21:00, because the lines are getting shorter now”, Muresan has told Info-Prim Neo. At stations #173 and #174, hosted by the Romanian Consulate on Ureche Street, even the station chairpersons are engaged in the processing work, sharing the burden. “I felt conscience-stricken looking at those people waiting hours in line. And so I decided to get involved and speed up the process”, says Carmen Nicolae, chair of station #173. The officials added that no incidents have been registered so far and praised the Romanian citizens living in Moldova for having informed themselves quite well about the voting procedures before coming to the station. “The voting process goes on in an orderly manner. It's rather amazing, we didn't expect such numbers of voters. But we are prepared to allow everybody to cast their votes”, says Irina Marin, chair of station #174, Mihaela Porfir, observer at station #172 located at the Romanian Consulate on Vlaicu Parcalab, says people started queuing up from the first minutes of the opening hour, 07:00, and some 500 persons were able to vote by 17:00. Besides the election of the next president, the voters are asked to say whether they agree to a shift from the current bicameral parliament to a single-chamber parliament, but according to the officials, some voters didn't know what a unicameral parliament was.