The Central Election Commission’s decision regarding the number of polling stations that will be established abroad for the July 11 snap parliamentary elections generated dissatisfaction among election runners. The Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) intends to mount a protest in front of the CEC starting at 12 noon on June 7. The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) announced its intention to join in. The Electoral Bloc “Renato Usatîi” challenged the Commission’s decision in the Chisinau Appeals Court, while PPPDA leader Andrei Năstase said the party’s jurists will appeal the CEC decision and will notify the PGO, IPN reports.
The members of the PAS invite the citizens to a protest to demand that the right to vote should be respected. “We ask the CEC to review its decision and to increase the number of polling stations for the diaspora. The CEC should respect the citizens and should ensure the right to vote! The Dodonist majority in the CEC with Maxim Lebedinschi as its leader broke the law and intends to rig the elections. The PAS will challenge this decision in court!”, runs the PAS’ message.
Renato Usatîi announced through Facebook that the Electoral Bloc “Renato Usatîi” appealed the CEC decision to the Chisinau Appeals Court on June 6. “We consider that by this decision, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who are outside the country were deprived of the constitutional right to vote. The Electoral Bloc “Renato Usatîi” is solidary with our citizens from the diaspora,” wrote Renato Usatîi.
PPPDA president Andrei Năstase said the CEC is an institution usurped by the Socialists and their company. The decision is inadmissible given the record number of Moldovans abroad who preregistered for the elections – over 100,000. “The diaspora was again wronged. The CEC reduced the number of polling stations for the diaspora, but added two polling stations for Transnistria. Such institutions should have ensured the proper conduct of these elections. Let’s mobilize in an exemplary way and give a blow to this toxic majority that promotes foreign interests and flouts democracy,” says a press release of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform”.
At the June 5 meeting of the Central Election Commission, CEC president Dorin Cimil proposed supplementing the polling stations in the regions and towns where long lines were formed by voters or where the ballots were used up swiftly at the previous elections from 139 to 162 for the snap parliamentary elections of July 11, but the proposal was short of votes.
SEC secretary general Maxim Lebedinschi said CEC didn’t ensure separate preregistration at the current elections and the figure on the Commission’s website presents the data for the past three years. The embassies also said that they do not have accurate data about the number of Moldovans abroad. Therefore, they should keep the same number of polling stations and the same locations as at the previous elections so as not to confuse the voters.
