Moldovan Foreign Affairs Ministry to ensure chairmanship of polling stations from abroad

Chisinau, 18 June /MOLDPRES/ - The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) recommends that the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry (MAEIE) assumes the delegation of the heads of the electoral bureaus due to be opened abroad for the forthcoming snap parliamentary elections.   

During consultations between CEC and the MAEIE secretary general, Eugen Revenco, on the opening of polling stations abroad for the 11 July ballot, CEC recommended MAEIE to assume the delegation of heads of the polling stations on behalf of Moldova’s diplomatic service.  

According to a member of the Central Electoral Commission, Andrei Volentir, the diplomatic missions are the ones which bear the legal responsibility for the carrying out of the electoral process. ‘’The provisions of the Electoral Code clearly establish that the diplomatic missions are the ones which bear responsibility, including the legal one, for the carrying out of the electoral process,’’ Volentir said.

At the same time, the CEC deputy head, Vladimir Sarban, said that, at present, there was a dilemma – all polling stations from abroad were cancelled under the ruling by the Court of Appeal.  

The secretary general of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry, Eugen Revenco, said that today at 16:00 he would confirm the list of the electoral bureaus for 146 polling stations from abroad. ‘’I can confirm to you and till 16:00 I will sent you the list of the electoral bureaus for 146 polling stations. We have heads of bureaus. We have capacities, including for the CEC’s recommendation for the heads of the bureaus to be only from the diplomatic service,’’ Revenco added.    

The consultations took place after on 17 June the Court of Appeal had obliged the Central Electoral Commission to change its decision and approve the opening of at least 190 polling stations in the Diaspora, just as the Foreign Affairs Ministry has earlier demanded.