Moldovan voters abroad were poorly informed about referendum, monitors

The monitors of the associations “Promo-Lex” and “Mostenitorii” (“Heirs”), who oversaw voting in the referendum abroad, say the Moldovan migrants were poorly informed about the plebiscite. The Moldovan voters overseas expressed their indignation at the absence of an information campaign, with jurists believing a part of the blame is borne by the Central Election Commission, the NGOs and the political organizations that took part in the referendum campaign. According to the preliminary information about voting in 40 polling places of the 78 established aboard, which were monitored by “Promo-Lex” and “Mostenitorii”, most of the polling stations did not post information about the voting procedure. In a news conference held at Info-Prim Neo on Monday, ”Promo-Lex” jurist Alexandru Postica said in polling places in Portugal and Italy there were electoral education posters saying the people can vote using the identity card, but the law provides that voting abroad takes place on the basis of the foreign passport. The monitors said that 11,517 persons voted at the 40 monitored polling places. 98% of the participants in the referendum voted in favor, while 1.9% - against. Less than 0.1% of the ballots were declared invalid. Alexandru Postica also said that the online voter registration system abroad did not work well as it showed that only 2% of the voters cast their ballots under the main rolls, while the rest voted under additional lists. The head of “Promo-Lex” Ion Manole said that despite the recorded incidents, the interest of the Moldovan voters living abroad in the national ballots remains constant. Tatiana Zloi, of the Balti-based association “Mostenitorii”, said they chose to monitor the polling places where the turnout was expected to be higher. A report with recommendations and an analysis of the trends identified at the polling places overseas will be presented in a week.