The PAS-sponsored bill piloting voting by mail for Moldovans in the United States and Canada was discussed today in a formal debate organized by Parliament’s Legal Commission.
Under the bill, voters will have to register in advance for the mail-in ballot. The electoral authorities will send the ballots by diplomatic mail or regular postal services. In the case of a second round, the ballots will be e-mailed, and voters will have to print them out.
“If the piloting is successful and there is a decision to expand voting by mail on a larger scale, in other countries and, why not, in Moldova as well, it will be easy to integrate these provisions into the Electoral Code”, said Pavel Postica, vice president of the Central Electoral Commission.
Vasile Costiuc, of the Democratia Acasa Party, noted during the debate that the need for alternative voting methods for the Moldovan diaspora was discussed to two years ago. Authorities then said they feared fraud, and it’s not clear what is different today. “There will be questions as to why Moldovans in the US have the right to express our choice, but Moldovans in Italy, France or Germany, for example, are not afforded this possibility”, said Vasile Costiuc.
“What we are discussing today is probably just a fraction of the effort to solve this old problem. Much more important will be the impact of those revisions that are being made today in the CEC’s internal regulations – regarding prior registration, the rules of opening voting stations abroad. We are talking in that case about hundreds of thousands of potential beneficiaries. But today we sit and chatter about a bill that is merely a pilot and will benefit a thousand people at best”, said the Watchdog expert Valeriu Pașa.
Victor Pruteanu, of the National Alternative Movement Party, criticized the bill. According to him, word is everywhere that there was a task force that researched voting by mail and drafted this bill. But who these people are remains a mystery, said Pruteanu. He added that trust in electoral procedures and their results is a key aspect, this is why such amendments to the electoral process must be transparent and fair.
“I am very happy that, finally, the Republic of Moldova will pilot voting by mail. It’s very important to test it and see how it goes, learn lessons. We see from the experience of other countries that things don’t always go very easily”, said Polina Panainte, of the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair Elections.
MP Adrian Albu (Com-Soc) observed the “excessive costs” of the bill and its vulnerability to fraud, adding that Socialists will go to the Constitutional Court if it ever becomes a law.
