Foreign Ministry releases list and interactive map of the 835 polling stations to be organised abroad

Bucharest, Oct 22 /Agerpres/ - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) announced on Monday evening having released the complete list and the interactive map of the 835 polling stations that will be organized abroad for the presidential election this November; the list and the interactive map are available at http://www.mae.ro/node/49479. "The organization of the 835 polling stations abroad is the result of the sustained efforts and the involvement of all heads of mission and of the staff of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps under their coordination. We emphasize that the good functioning of a record high number of foreign polling stations outside country borders, as voting takes place over three days for each of the two election rounds, requires a close coordination between the partner institutions (the Permanent Electoral Authority, the Special Telecommunications Service), as well as cooperation with the political formations that will appoint their representatives to the electoral bureaus of the foreign polling stations, and with the Romanian communities abroad," the Foreign Ministry said in a release. The countries where most polling stations will be set up are: Spain (143, compared to 50 for the EP election), Italy (142, compared to 76), Germany (80, compared to 25), the UK (72, compared to 29), France (50, compared to 17), the US (38, compared to 31), the Republic of Moldova (37, compared to 36), the Netherlands (25, compared to 4), Belgium (23, compared to 8), Ireland (16, compared to 5), Denmark (12, compared to 7), Austria (17, compared to 9), Greece (11, compared to 4), Portugal (9, compared to 5), Switzerland (8, compared to 4). As many as 639 polling stations will be organized in the EU countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also mentions that apart from the polling stations that are being traditionally organized in the theaters of operations in Afghanistan, a polling place will also be opened for the first time in Mali, in order to allow the Romanian troops who participate in the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Republic of Mali to exercise their right to vote. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all the polling stations have been validated by the Permanent Electoral Authority through the AEP Decision No. 38 of October 20 published in the Official Journal No. 851 of October 21. The Ministry also mentions that the numbers of polling stations organized abroad for the previous elections were as follows: 294 for the presidential election in 2014; 417 for the 2016 parliamentary elections; 441 for the elections to the European Parliament this May. Voting abroad for the upcoming presidential election takes place over three days: November 8, 9 and 10 for the first round, and November 22, 23 and 24 for the second round. The polling stations' opening hours are: Friday between 12:00 and 21:00 local time, and Saturday and Sunday between 7:00 and 21:00 local time. Voters who are inside the polling station at 21:00 hrs as well as those queuing outside in order to exercise their right to vote are allowed to cast ballots until 23:59 hrs local time at the latest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also specified. AGERPRES (RO - author: Antonia Nita, editor: George Onea; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)