Preregistration for the October 20 election ended on Friday. A total of 21,708 Moldovans announced their intention to vote in another country, IPN reports.

According to data of the Central Election Commission, most of the preregistrations – 8,238 – are for the Russian Federation. Italy comes next with 2,499 Moldovans.

In Germany, 1,997 citizens of the Republic of Moldova announced that they will vote there, in the United States of America – 1,451, in Romania – 1,186, in the UK – 1,014, in France – 1,005, in Canada – 833. For the other countries, the figures are below 800.

Preregistration is one of the three criteria used by the Central Election Commission to decide the number of polling stations that need to be established abroad.

As for postal voting, which is implemented in six countries and for which preregistration is mandatory, the number of applicants stands at 1,996. In the U.S., 1,087 Moldovans announced their intention to vote by mail, in Canada – 584, in Norway – 134, in Sweden – 93, in Finland – 72, in Iceland – 26.

At the 2020 presidential election, there were over 52,000 preregistrations. For the early parliamentary elections of July 2021, over 100,000 Moldovan citizens preregistered.