President of the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) Constantin-Florin Mituletu-Buica said on Friday that total allocations for this year's presidential election stand at roughly 150 million euros, making it the most expensive ballot so far.
"This is the most expensive ballot, as now there are about 835 foreign polling stations compared to 441 [at the EP election], or 390 five years ago; the voting process is expensive both abroad and in the country. Of the 150 million euros, almost 50 million went for the organization of the ballot abroad, but 100 million were for the domestic process. That's quite a lot of money," Mituletu-Buica told a press conference.
Head of AEP's Electoral Logistics Directorate, Daniel Duta, mentioned that 199 tonnes of paper worth 528 ml lei have been used for printing the ballot papers.
"When we'll draw the line and calculate the expenses - as this is just the allocated money - we'll probably end up with one of the most expensive ballots. The Interior Ministry has 79.872.204 euros allocated, the National Institute of Statistics - 784,849 euros, the Permanent Electoral Authority - 14,247,310 euros, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - 35,884,689 euros, and the Special Telecommunications Service - 16,067,765 euros," said Duta.