ASCPD: Data of persons who voted on additional lists in presidential election, into possession of political parties

The data of the persons included on the additional lists for the 10 November elections, by a simple request, have come into the possession of the political parties, warns the Association of Privacy and Data Protection Specialists (ASCPD).

At the same time, the representatives of the Association make available to individuals who vote on additional lists three models of request by which they can exercise their right to access and the right to restrict the processing of personal data, shows a release issued on Monday to AGERPRES.

"As many as 1,071,752 Romanians voted on 10 November, 2019 on additional lists, at home or abroad, in the elections for the president of Romania. The personal data of the persons registered on the supplementary lists (name, numerical personal code, domicile, signature, series and the number of the identity document) came, in a simple request, in the possession of the political parties. The ASCPD considers that the BEC 84/ D/2019 Decision that allows this must be annulled and a new decision which clearly imposes the conditions under which political groups may have access to additional lists in order to ensure the protection of the rights of individuals must be issued," the quoted source said.

The ASCPD notes that, on 4 November, the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) issued the decision establishing that representatives of political parties in the polling stations' electoral bureaus may receive, upon request, copies of the additional electoral lists, "by any means, including photography or filming", in accordance with the provisions of art. VII of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 64/2019 and art.17 paragraph (2) of Law no. 370/2004.

The BEC decision "should be annulled and a new decision should be issued which clearly sets out the conditions under which political parties can have access to additional lists", in order to ensure the protection of the rights of individuals, say the Association's representatives.

The Association considers that the BEC decision introduces several risks regarding the protection of voters' data: the risk of non-observance of a real legitimate interest; the risk of non-observance of the prior information of the voters, the risk of not verifying the appropriate technical and organizational measures; the risk of changing the purpose for which the data were collected.

The three request models can be found at: https://ascpd.ro/comunicate-de-presa/