The Romanian citizens living abroad will no longer be able to vote on election Sunday by 9:00 p.m. local time, as until now. The Central Electoral Bureau decided to change the working hours of polling stations abroad in order to exercise the right to vote in conditions of legality, equality and integrity, IPN reports.
In the diaspora, the Romanians can vote for three days. On the first two days, Friday and Saturday, the program of polling stations abroad will be the same for both rounds of voting: the polling stations will open at 7:00 a.m. local time and will close at 9:00 p.m. local time. On the third day of voting, i.e. on Sunday, the polling stations abroad will open at 7:00 a.m. local time, but will close at 9:00 p.m., Romanian time.
Thus, some Romanians abroad will have less time to vote. For example, in the UK, polling stations will close when the clocks there show 7:00 p.m. And the Romanians in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, France and Belgium will be able to vote their president only until 8:00 p.m. local time, according to Libertatea.
The most affected will be the Romanian citizens in the U.S. and Canada, where there are areas that are more than 6 hours behind Romania: on election Sunday, polling stations there will be open only between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. local time at the latest.
At the same time, in countries with an advanced time zone or the same as in Romania, the Romanians inside polling stations or in line can still vote until 11:59 p.m. local time. In the other countries, where the time zone is behind that of Romania, voters in similar voting situations could exercise their right to vote until 11:59 p.m. at the latest, Romanian time.
According to the electoral body’s decision, the voter who is abroad on election day can vote at any polling station established abroad, regardless of whether or not they went through the procedure of being included in the Electoral Register as a voter abroad.
