The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova insists on the establishment of five polling stations on the territory of the Russian Federation for the runoff presidential election, which means by three polling stations more than in the first round of voting. At the same time, the party demands to print a sufficient number of ballots to ensure that all the citizens of the Republic of Moldova who will go to polling stations in Russia are able to vote, IPN reports.
According to the Socialists, in the last two years, the Moldovan diaspora in Russia and Belarus has been subjected to discrimination by the current regime of Moldova. "These people are deprived of the opportunity to visit their relatives and loved ones as they have to spend whole days and astronomical amounts of money for the trip. They cannot send money to their elderly parents, who remained in Moldova. Many of the Moldovan citizens living in Russia, when they come to Moldova, are subjected to humiliating searches at the airport," reads the statement.
The PSRM noted that these citizens were last time discriminated at the presidential election and the constitutional referendum of October 20. "Although hundreds of thousands of citizens of the Republic of Moldova live in the Russian Federation, according to the CEC decision, only 5 polling stations were opened on the territory of this country, and later, through the intervention of the SIS and the MFA, this number was reduced to two polling stations." According to the PSRM, the opening of five polling stations for the runoff election will be a manifestation of minimal respect for the representatives of one of the largest Moldovan diasporas abroad.
The Central Election Commission initially decided to open five polling stations in Russia, including in the cities of St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and Surgut. But the Moldovan authorities found it impossible for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the voting process for the mentioned polling stations. As a result, only two polling stations were established in Russia, both in Moscow, to which 10,000 ballots were sent, by 5,000 for each polling station. On election day, their schedule was extended by two hours and images showing huge queues appeared in the public space. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova said those queues were artificially created. It was also noted that the 10,000 ballots distributed to the two polling stations in Moscow have not been exhausted.
