The Central Election Commission’s decision to increase the number of polling stations outside the country from 139 to 146 is formal and insufficient. The institution didn’t address the problem of polling stations in Europe, where at least ten stations ran out of ballots at the previous elections, said President Maia Sandu, being quoted by IPN.

In a post on Facebook, President Sandu said the CEC is not a political organization and its decisions should be technical, neutral and professional and should ensure the exercise of the each citizen’s right to vote.

“The political forces that influence some of the CEC members oppose democracy by all means and are afraid of the people’s will as they fear they will lose power and impunity before justice. The situation when the country’s citizens see the door of the polling place closed before them because there are no more ballots there is a failure of the Central Election Commission. The repeat of such a situation this year will mean that the CEC members use their mandate to intentionally influence the pace of reforms. The CEC members who allow and artificially create such situations should be held accountable,” wrote Maia Sandu.

The CEC on June 8 decided to increase the number of polling stations outside Moldova’s borders for the snap parliamentary elections of July 11 to 146. The number of polling stations in Germany and the UK was raised by three in each of these countries, to nine and, respectively, to ten. Two more polling places will be established in France, taking the total to ten, and one more station will be available in Italy’s Rimini, with the total number of polling stations for Moldovans in Italy rising to 31.

The polling station in Romania’s Oradea was excluded, while in Greece’s Athens there will be available only one station instead of two stations earlier. In the Russian Federation, the polling stations will be reorganized, but their number will remain the same – 17.