GeneralElection2020/748 polling stations abroad for 2020 general election, up from 417 in 2016

Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) will open 748 polling stations abroad for the December 6 election to the Romanian Senate and Chamber of Deputies that will meet the health protection requirements to contain COVID-19, up 331 from the previous general election in 2016, MAE's official in charge with special electoral tasks Iulian Ivan. "We are ready for the voting process to take place abroad under the best circumstances (...) Tomorrow [Friday], December 4, voting abroad will begin, with the first station to open being in Auckland, New Zealand, at 20:00hrs, EET," said Ivan. He underlined that MAE provided voters with an interactive map of the polling stations abroad that can be found on its website. "MAE is opening 748 polling stations abroad that which meet all the sanitary conditions health protection requirements to contain COVID-19. (...) Compared with the previous general election, when 417 polling stations were opened, this year there will be 331 more. For example, in Spain there are 140 polling stations, as against 53 in 2016; in Italy, there are currently 137 polling stations, up from 73 in 2016; in Germany there are 61 polling stations, compared with 15; in the UK there will be 50 polling stations, as against 21 previously; in France there are 48 polling stations, compared with a previous 16, and in the US there will be 36 polling stations, up from 31 in 2016," Ivan told a news briefing on Thursday. According to him, due to some agreements being called off by local administrations or real estate owners because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 25 polling stations were relocated mostly in the same areas, with the following exceptions: Roselare (Belgium), relocated to Brussels; Ginosa (Italy), relocated to Bari; Alesund (Norway), relocated to Vatne. "We will not open polling stations in Malta, Nigeria, North Korea and Venezuela for objective reasons," said Ivan. AGERPRES (RO - author: Livia Popescu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)

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