Voters abroad more active than ever

Moldovan citizens abroad have voted early on Sunday morning and the turnout was unexpectedly high, according to the monitoring report of the East Europe Foundation observers. This was achieved due to effective information efforts concerning the poll by both political competitors and by the communities abroad, as well as due to election’s importance, Info-Prim Neo reports. In 25 polling stations monitored by EEF observers, initially there were only a few voters enlisted in the primary rolls, the others being registered in additional lists. “This shows how the record of emigrated citizens is kept. Usually, only the embassy or consulate personnel was registered in the primary lists”, said Corneliu Gurin, EEF elections expert. The main problems during the voting abroad noticed by EEF observers were the overcrowding in polling stations, low quality ballot boxes, lack of ballot papers, unprepared polling staff and the presence of local forces of order. “Nevertheless, the organization of elections abroad in a lot of polling stations can definitely be considered a success. The participation rate was high and the stations were easy to find”, Gurin said. EEF observers monitored the voting in Italy, Russia, Canada, Spain, USA, Ireland, France and Portugal.