Senate Speaker Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, who co-chairs Romania’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) announced on Sunday that his party’s lawmakers will table a range of amendments on Monday to the postal voting law that has cleared the Senate and is being debated by the lower Chamber of Deputies.
“We’ve announced in several stands taken previously that we do not back this formula relating the vote of the Romanians from abroad, because it is an extremely bureaucratic, unwieldy formula, which instead of having as its main plus the fact it enables the Romanians to vote, has exactly the opposite effect. The bill contains a large number of provisions that will make those staying abroad to give up voting. We support the need for as simple as possible mechanism that should allow as high as possible number of Romanians abroad /…/ to cast their ballot under any conditions. /…/ We’ve prepared a set of modifications to the current formula that is being /debated/ by the Chamber”, Tariceanu told a news conference.
He explained the ALDE amendments “virtually eliminate pretty much all the unwieldy provisions and rely on the prior recording on the lists of those who wish to vote at the residences of the embassies and consulates at least six months before the elections, with the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry to re-size the polling stations” after such lists are completed.
Tariceanu underscored that by his party’s amendments, the law will enable both the Romanians who have a stable or quasi-stable residence outside Romania and those who are travelling outside the country’s borders to cast a vote.
