Home > 1.2.1 Equal voting rights > MOLDOVA - Joint Opinion on the Draft Laws on Amending and Completing Certain Legislative Acts (Electoral System for the Election of the Parliament)
 
 
 
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Paragraph 59
 

While there is no obligation for states to organise out-of-country voting, if such voting is provided, citizens abroad should not be subject to arbitrary or unreasonable restrictions to the right to vote. The number and distribution of polling stations should therefore not have a discriminatory effect. The lack of transparency over the criteria for determining the number and location of polling stations abroad has previously been a cause of concern for the OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission. The draft amends Article 291 of the Electoral Code, requiring the CEC to “take into account the number of citizens living outside the Republic of Moldova, based on information provided by the competent authorities of the host state where these stations shall be established”. This requirement is a welcome step in the right direction. It is, however, recommended that the Electoral Code provide clear and fixed criteria for the CEC on how to determine the number of polling stations abroad, including the use of demographical statistics. In addition, during the expert visit, some interlocutors expressed concerns that the data would be provided by the host states, rather than relevant Moldovan institutions.