Over 63,000 ballots will be printed for Moldova’s overseas polling places

More than 63,000 ballot papers will be printed and distributed to Moldova’s diplomatic missions abroad that will set up polling places. One third of the ballots will be in Russian, Info-Prim Neo reports. A sum of about 5,000-6,000 euros will be allocated for printing and distributing the ballots abroad. Iurie Ciocan, the secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC), said Friday that the number of ballot papers for the overseas polling places was fixed on the basis of the lists of voters drawn up by Moldova’s embassies and consulates. The Election Code says that this number can be increased by 5%. The CEC member Nicolae Garbu said that the number of ballots allocated for the purpose is too high and this could be a move aimed at falsifying the number of votes cast abroad. According to him, by its decision the CEC violates the Election Code as it will sent 5,000 ballots to the polling place set up in the Italian capital of Rome at a time when only 50 persons were registered there. Another two members of the CEC shared his opinion. In reply, the CEC secretary said that the embassy in Rome asked for 15,000 ballots as they know that much more Moldovans staying legally in Rome would go to the polls. But, given that about 3,000 people can vote in a polling place, it was decided to allocate the highest available number of ballots – 5,000. The situation at the Consulate in Bologna is similar, Ciocan said. The CEC president Eugeniu Stirbu said that he personally spoke to the Moldovan Ambassador in Rome Gheorghe Rusnac, who told him that the Moldovans in Italy do not register at the Embassy because they have to pay a fee of 50 euros, but the number of those that would vote could be much higher. Thirty-three polling places for the April 5 legislative elections will be set up at Moldova’s diplomatic missions abroad. The last batch of ballots will include 783,500 units. A part of them will be distributed to the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.