For the first time in Moldova, the Central Election Commission (CEC) will print the voter rolls for the November 30 parliamentary elections. Until now, the lists were prepared by the mayors’ offices. Another novelty is the fact that all the polling places will be outfitted with computers connected to the Internet in order to record the persons who cast their ballots so as to avoid cases of repeated voting, IPN reports.
In a seminar centering on the elections, CEC president Iurie Ciocan said the format of the lists was changed. Their size will be twice larger than that of the previous rolls. The lists will also contain the voters’ personal identification number (IDNP), which will allow avoiding repeated voting. The rolls will be kept in electronic format in the CEC’s database. The mayor’s offices will have access to the lists based on an individual code word. “The mayor’s offices, through the agency of persons responsible for managing the voter rolls, will have purely technical duties and will be unable to modify people’s data,” sated Iurie Ciocan.
He added that all the polling places will have computers connected to the Internet. A sum of 30 million lei was allocated from the state budget for purchasing them. After the local elections of next year, the computers will be donated to rural schools.
Iurie Ciocan noted that the new, standardized ballot boxes and polling booths cost 2 million lei. They will arrive in Moldova in the middle of October and will be given free to mayor’s offices, which can use them in other elections as well. The local authorities will be responsible for their correct management
The CEC president called jokingly on the mayors not to use the ballot boxes, which are made of plastic and have a capacity of 45 and 80 liters, as containers for pickles. He underlined that 52 million lei will be spent for organizing this autumn’s elections and accounting software will be installed for ensuring the correct use of public money.
Attending the event, Prime Minister Iurie Leanca made a call for correctness in the future elections, saying the country’s future and the relations with the foreign partners will depend on the election outcome. Everyone should make effort to show that society is a stable one and that the state institutions developed in the last four years. It depends on everyone whether the future elections are a success for the Moldovan democracy and for the state institutions.
