Organization of Moldovans in Ireland would not benefit from polling place

The application to open a polling station for the 2009 parliamentary elections filed by the Association of Moldovan Communities in Ireland to the Central Election Commission (CEC) will be most probably rejected, Info-Prim Neo ascertained after examining the viewpoints of members of the Commission. “Even if we want to open more polling places, the law does not allow us to. We will familiarize them with the legislation,” said the CEC vice president Renata Lapti. “Moldova does not have an embassy or consulate in Ireland.” Renata Lipati confirmed that they received an application from an association of Moldovans in Ireland. The organization’s members asked the Commission to open an additional polling station in the capital of Ireland so that the Moldovan citizens could exercise their right to vote guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova. "The Election Code does not provide for other possibilities of voting outside the country than in stations set up near embassies or consulates, as stipulated in article 29 of paragraph 5,” Lapti argued. According to the vice president of the CEC, when additional polling places were opened in Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi in 2001 she voted in Cluj herself, but now the legislation is different. For his part, the CEC member Nicolae Garbu said that article 29 of paragraph 5 is not an impediment to opening polling stations abroad. “The Election Code does not clearly say that the opening of polling places outside embassies or consulates is banned and that they can be set up only inside these institutions. Yet, the Constitution obliges us to ensure the electoral vote of the citizens, as it is also provided in the preamble of the Election Code,” Garbu said. He promised that the next meeting of the CEC will discuss the application lodged by the Moldovans living in Ireland, about which he said he knew nothing. Both Garbu and Lapti stated that the political parties could have earlier demanded that the Election Code be modified so that it allowed opening additional polling places. As the election campaign is to open soon, it is already too late. "The Venice Commission also recommended that the Election Code should not be amended six month before the elections,” Renata Lapti said. “But the possibilities were different several months ago,” Garbu said. He also said that the CEC could also ask that the Parliament amended article 29 of paragraph 5 so as to guarantee the right to vote of the large number of Moldovans living abroad. According to Renata Lapti, the CEC cannot formulate legislative initiatives and cannot ask the Parliament to modify the Election Code. As to the email and postal vote, which could be an alternative for the citizens that are abroad, Nicolae Garbu said that the electoral legislation does not allow such methods.