The discussions and debates in which the voters’ role is reminded should not take place only during an electoral year, especially during the last two months before the elections, but nonstop, throughout the period of government. This is the message that should be perceived by the voters and by those who were elected, said Dorina Baltag, a researcher in EU foreign policy and diplomacy at the London Institute for Diplomacy and International Governance, who founded the community of Moldovans “Noroc Olanda” in 2012.
In IPN’s public debate, Dorina Baltag said mail voting, voting by proxy or voting by notarial documents have been discussed in Moldova. “They are not something unordinary in this problematic year, but there is this attitude of the political class of the Republic of Moldova, who say in December, when it should snow, that: Oh, we didn’t expect it will snow overnight!,” she stated, noting this is how she sees the situation related to elections and her opinion can be subjective.
In the same connection, Dorina Baltag made reference to the experience of the Netherlands, which decided to apply postal voting and voting by proxy and is less in favor of electronic voting. “I, as a citizen of the EU, voted by post when I took part in the European parliamentary elections. I was to go on vacation and thus I voted by post. In another case, I entrusted my neighbor with the task of voting for me. I gave him the ballot, the copy of the passport and he took my documents to the polling station. I had enough time at my disposal as the process started three months beforehand,” she stated.
Dorina Baltag also spoke about Romania’s experience that decided to use postal voting in the diaspora in a year struck by COVID-19. “Now the tendency is seen as a positive one, judging by the opinion of my Romanian colleagues and friends and this decision wasn’t taken one, two or three years beforehand. We can learn something from here. The experience of Poland: if we are not ready and it is a crisis year, we should change the date so as to be more prepared. We will never be 100% ready, but several steps can be taken,” she stated.
According to the researcher, to determine the reasons for which eventual opportunities that could have increased the voting capacity of Moldovan citizens abroad weren’t taken, case studies and opinion polls are needed. “I think there should be political will to implement reforms as the instruments are created easily. It is easy to cast a ballot, but we usually have shortcomings in the implementation of the rules,” noted Dorina Baltag.
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.
