Green light for postal voting

Chisinau, April 26 /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova will implement postal voting. Countries will be selected based on criteria stipulated in the legislation. The draft law on piloting postal voting has been adopted by Parliament. The document was criticized by the opposition.

The document regulates the principles of exercising the right to vote by post, specific electoral procedures, as well as the powers of electoral bodies that will organise this alternative method of exercising the right to vote. The electoral procedures for securing voting, keeping and ensuring the integrity of the envelopes with the ballot papers received will be laid down in a regulation approved by the Central Electoral Commission.

Countries meeting the criteria include the United States of America, Canada, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Republic of Finland and the Republic of Iceland.

Postal voting will not be possible in countries with which the Republic of Moldova does not have diplomatic relations, in countries in military conflicts and in countries where international standards for free and fair elections are not met.

Uncertainty about the age of voters has also been removed. This means that people who have reached the age of majority at the time of their application will be able to exercise their right to vote by post.

Another provision included in the document concerns the security of the vote. Thus, the envelope with voting materials will contain an affidavit. Voters will be obliged to sign it to confirm the exercise of their secret ballot. At the same time, voters who do not respect the secrecy of the vote will be penalised. An article has been added to the Contravention Code to cover failure to respect the secrecy of the vote, disclosure of postal voting or transmission of the ballot paper to a third person.

In order to vote by post, citizens will have to register to vote by post and receive a notification from the Central Electoral Commission on the completion of the registration procedure. At the same time, ballot papers will be sent to voters by diplomatic mail or regular postal services.

Globally, 53 countries allow postal voting from abroad.