Romanians living abroad will be able to cast their votes in 417 polling stations for 36 hours due to the time zone at upcoming Sunday’s general elections. The first polling stations will be opened on Saturday at 20:00 in Australia and New Zealand and the last ones will close on Monday, at 06:00 on the US northern coast.
About 2 million ballot papers have been sent in Diaspora for the Sunday’s elections.
Those 417 polling stations represent a record at the elections of December 11, as it’s the highest number that Romania has ever had in Diaspora. There will be 111 more stations than during the general elections in 2012 and 123 more than in the presidential elections two years ago, when rows sparkled in several European countries due to the scarce polling stations which made Romanians living abroad queuing for hours to be able to cast their vote.
“Among the 417 polling stations, 193 will be set up upon Romania’s embassies, consulates and cultural institutes abroad. 217 polling stations were proposed by the Romanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, while another seven ones will be set up at the request of at least 100 Romanian citizens who enlisted in the Romanian Electoral Register until September 14, 2016,” said MAE’s spokesperson, Ionut Valcu.
The additional seven polling stations asked by the Romanians in Diaspora have been opened in the UK (one polling station), in Republic of Moldova (four polling stations) and Spain (two polling stations).
Only 8,889 Romanian nationals are expected to cast their vote by mail at the general elections on Sunday, as registered in the Electoral Register.
Overall, most of the polling stations are in Italy (73), Spain (53), R. Moldova (35), USA (31), UK (21), France (16), Germany (15), Belgium (9) and Canada (8).