There are many methods of organizing elections abroad or in the country as the voting techniques develop in time. In Poland, at the last elections there was adopted a law by which postal voting was introduced. In the U.S., they vote in front of a screen by pressing buttons. There should be a debate, a consensus between parties so that these vote laws that would regulate voting one way or another. This is important and changes in the absence of such a thing are difficult, Poland’s Ambassador to Moldova Bartłomiej Zdaniuk sated in IPN’s public debate “Presidential elections in the diaspora and geopolitics”.
The ambassador said the system of voting in Poland until recently was comparable to Moldova’s. “Polling stations were opened abroad and the people could go and vote there on condition that they were pre-registered. The time limit for pre-registration was three days before the election day. It was enough to have Internet connection, to visit a website and to introduce the personal data there or to phone the consular section or the electoral bureau for registering oneself. This way, on the election day one could go to the polling place to vote. One could not vote in the absence of registration,” stated Bartłomiej Zdaniuk.
This year Poland had presidential elections that initially were to take place in May, but were later put off until June and July. The mixed voting system was introduced to enable the people to vote by post.
Bartłomiej Zdaniuk said that for the elections in Poland, in some of the countries they could establish polling stations for the people to vote in person. Other countries didn’t offer such an opportunity, like the UK, and postal voting was thus used. The greatest work was done there as there were over 25,000 electors who voted by post at one polling station. In Moldova, a polling station was housed by the consulate of Poland, where the electors voted in person or by post. In general, the voter turnout was high and this led to the election of a President who is recognized in Poland.
According to the diplomat, there were no cases when lines formed and the people could not vote in Poland as the voters were informed that they must pre-register. Voting based on pre-registration is shorter.
The ambassador added that it is not enough for a set of rules to exist, even if this is important. Political will to discuss with other political partners is needed. Connection is also needed with the country that hosts the citizens, who should know what’s going on in the native country and should become actively involved not only during the elections, but always.
The public debate “Presidential elections in the diaspora and geopolitics” was the 156th installment of the series “Developing political culture through public debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
