Voting registration period for Romanians abroad could be extended

Romanian prime minister Viorica Dăncilă has asked the Permanent Electoral Auhtority (AEP) to extend the period during which Romanians living abroad can register to vote in the upcoming presidential elections, Agerpresreported.

A total of 20,040 people registered for correspondence voting, and another 19,430 registered to vote at polling stations, AEP said on September 4.

AEP also announced that the voting registration period could be extended until September 15 from September 11.

Constantin-Florin Mitulețu-Buică, the AEP president, urged Romanians living abroad to register for correspondence voting which “besides being a comfortable and safe distance voting way, it saves them the expenses associated with traveling to a voting station and the crowdedness,” he said, quoted by Profit.ro.

This July, the Parliament voted to introduce multi-day voting for the Romanians living abroad as well as the option of correspondence voting. It came after major problems at the May 26 elections for the European Parliament, when the Romanians living abroad had to queue for hours to vote. Many couldn’t cast their ballot, leading to resentment and even incidents at some polling stations.

The first round of the presidential elections is scheduled for November 10.

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