Voter turnout stays at about 48 per cent in Moldova till 19:00

Chisinau, 30 October /MOLDPRES/ - Over 1,380 million electors (47.59 per cent) voted till 19:00.

The head of the Central Electoral Commission, (CEC), Alina Russu, has said that all polling stations opened both in Moldova and abroad worked as normal. “About 10 per cent of the voters who participated in the ballot have ages ranging between 18 and 25 years, over 26 per cent – 41-55 years, about 30 per cent – 56-70 years and over eight per cent of the voters are older than 71. The electoral district with the highest voter turnout is the Chisinau municipality (51.40 per cent), and the lowest one is in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (38.42) per cent,” Russu said.    

According to CEC data, the settlement where most electors have voted is Pocrovca village, northern Donduseni district (80.51 per cent). The fewest people have exercised their right to vote in the Caracusenii Vechi village, northern Briceni district, - as little as 18.06 per cent of the citizens recorded in the basic electoral list voted till 19:00.    

As much as 53.11 per cent of the electors have voted in Riscani district of Chisinau, 52.08 per cent – in the Centru district, 52.01 per cent - in the Botanica district, 51.88 per cent - in the Buiucani district and 50.94 per cent – in the Ciocana district. A voter turnout of 62.39 per cent was recorded at the polling station No 137 from the Centru district of Chisinau, and the smallest number of electors who exercised their right to vote in the capital was at the polling station No 116 of the Centru district – 29.92 per cent.       

The CEC head noted that the voting process was unfolding as normal at all polling stations opened abroad. “Till 18:30, over 54,000 citizens voted at polling stations from abroad. At the same time, the most active Moldovan citizens exercising their right to vote abroad were recorded at a polling station in Moscow, Russia, (1,939 voters), a polling station from Bucharest, Romania, (2,069) and Stratford, United Kingdom, (1,909),” Alina Russu said.  

At the same time, the Commission members highlighted active participation in elections of the Diaspora from Italy - 19,049 voters, Romania – 8,412, France – 4,477 and Russia – 4,400 persons.   

Also, the CEC head said that, according to legal norms, the electoral bureau can decide on the prolongation of the voting time by two hours at the most, in order to allow voters who stay in queues at the concerned polling station to exercise their right to vote. “The district electoral council and CEC should be informed about this,” Russu said.

The polling stations from Tokyo, Japan, with 25 voters, Beijing, China, - 19 electors, Krasnoyarsk, Russia, - 32 voters and Nizhnevartovsk -, Russia, - 42 voters, have closed so far.      

CEC member Maxim Lebedinschi said that incidents and attempts of actions of electoral agitation had been recorded in several settlements within the polls. “In the Orhei town, the citizens were urged not to go to vote. The persons who made electoral propaganda, as well as those who de-motivated citizens to vote, were sanctioned contraventionally by the police. Nevertheless, till present, CEC has not received notifications as regards the violation of the holding of the electoral process,” the CEC member noted.  

As many as 2.8 million people are expected to come to vote. The first preliminary data of the ballot will be unveiled at about 22:00.