ParliamentaryElections2020/AEP: Abroad voters can vote even if residence document expired after March 1

Romanian voters who hold a document certifying their residence abroad and whose validity period has expired between March 1 and December 6 may exercise their right to vote in elections to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

A press release of the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) sent on Monday informs the Romanian citizens with domicile or residence abroad about updated information regarding the exercise of the voting right in the December 6 elections.

"Persons proving that they have their domicile or residence abroad may exercise their right to vote at any polling station abroad, on the basis of an identity document, from among those provided for in Article 83 paragraph (2) of Law No. 208 / 2015, with subsequent amendments and supplementations, and in the case of Romanian citizens residing abroad also based on a document certifying the residence abroad, from among those provided in the annex to the Order of the Minister of Foreign Affairs No. 1627/2019, with the subsequent amendments and supplementations," shows the quoted source.

These provisions also apply to the members of the electoral bureaus of the polling stations abroad who have their domicile or residence abroad.

The document attesting the residence abroad may be presented to the electoral bureau of the polling station abroad, in original, in copy or in electronic format, as the case may be.

"No later than 48 hours before the first day of voting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall draw up and make public the list of documents certifying residence abroad whose validity terms have expired prior to March 1, 2020 and which are considered valid by the issuing state," AEP mentions.

The condition of domicile or residence abroad, as well as the presentation of a document certifying residence abroad, does not apply to the following categories of voters who vote at polling stations abroad:

* candidates, if they are running in the constituency for Romanian citizens domiciled or residing abroad;

* the staff of diplomatic missions and consular offices, consular sections and cultural institutes abroad;

* to the Romanian military, police and civilian personnel from the institutions of the defense, public order and national security system sent on a mission to theaters of operations abroad.

According to art. 1 of Decision no. 35/2020 of the Central Electoral Bureau, the voter who holds an identity document among those provided by law whose validity period expired between March 1 and December 6, 2020 may exercise his/her right to vote in the elections for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies in 2020 based on it.

"The voter with domicile or residence abroad who has chosen to exercise his/her right to vote by mail and for the transmission of the vote by mail in the country must send the outer envelope containing the voting options for the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies sufficiently in advance to ensure the delivery up to three days before the voting date, including, more precisely, the date of December 3, at the headquarters of the electoral bureau for mail voting," mentions the quoted source.

If the voter considers that the envelope containing the voting options will not arrive on time in the country, he or she has the possibility to deposit it at any courier operator or can send it to the headquarters of the diplomatic mission or consular post, as the case may be, at his or her expense.

The sealed outer envelope may also be submitted in person by the voter at the headquarters of the diplomatic mission or consular office, as appropriate.