Radio România Internațional

Tag: guidelines

  • Guidelines for postal voting

    Guidelines for postal voting

     

    The Romanian foreign ministry posted on its home page the guidelines for postal voting in this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

     

    Under the document, the deadline for Romanian living abroad to register as voters by mail is October 10 for the presidential ballot and October 17 for the general elections. The ministry reminds citizens that postal voting is an alternative to voting in polling stations, and is conducted via postal services.

     

    According to the foreign ministry, all Romanian eligible voters living abroad may vote by mail if they have registered for this option in the Electoral Register (at www.votstrainatate.ro). Registration may be done via an online form on that website, the authorities explained. All the necessary information may also be found on the foreign ministry’s home page, under the sections “Elections for the President of Romania” and “Elections for the Senate and Chamber of Deputies,” respectively.

     

    So far, around 4,300 applications have been received for postal voting in the presidential election, and some 4,000 for the parliamentary election.

     

    As for voting in polling stations abroad, little over 6,000 voters have registered for each of the 2 rounds of the presidential election.

     

    According to the president of the Permanent Electoral Authority, Toni Greblă, approx. 900 polling stations will be set up outside Romania, where around 5 million ballots will be printed. “The fact that a Romanian citizen with a temporary or permanent address abroad has not registered for voting in a particular polling station does not prevent them from voting anywhere they might be on election day,” he also explained.

     

    Moreover, for the presidential ballot the Romanian nationals who are on holiday or transiting a foreign country may vote in any polling station.

     

    The final list of polling stations abroad for the presidential election will be made public on the websites of Romanian embassies and of the foreign ministry on September 28.

     

    The voting process abroad in the first round of the presidential ballot will be open for 3 days, between November 22nd and 24th, while in the second round polling stations outside the country will be open between December 6th and 8th.

     

    As for the parliamentary election, Romanian nationals living abroad will be able to cast their ballots on November 30th and December 1st.

     

    According to the Permanent Electoral Authority, the total number of eligible voters in the Electoral Register is close to 19 million, approx. 960,000 of whom have temporary or permanent residence outside the country. (AMP)

  • May 17, 2024 UPDATE

    May 17, 2024 UPDATE

    ECONOMY – Confidex, the index that measures Romanian managers’ confidence in the local economy, has reached its highest level in 4 years – 52.5, according to the latest relevant poll. Companies in the services sector are the most optimistic, followed by IT, constructions and retail firms. At the opposite pole are businesses in agriculture, energy and industry.

     

     

    DISINFORMATION – The Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization in Romania has launched the #nofake platform, where people can submit reports for social media content they deem inappropriate, such as digital fakes, offensive content, online disinformation and manipulation. The line minister, Bogdan Ivan, said the platform will ensure a swift analysis of digital fake reports. This new reporting system will supplement the authorities’ efforts in this field, in addition to security and reporting mechanisms provided by each social media platform, Minister Ivan pointed out.

     

     

    ELECTIONS – Romania’s Foreign Ministry and the Permanent Electoral Authority have put together the Guidelines for Romanian voters in polling stations abroad for the European Parliament elections scheduled for June 9, 2024. The document answers the most frequent questions concerning the organization of the ballot: voter eligibility, identity documents required for voting, the opening hours of polling stations, the voting procedure and the operation of the IT system monitoring voter turnout and preventing illegal voting. Citizens can find the guidelines on the ministry’s website. The Foreign Ministry, via Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad, organizes 915 polling stations for Romania’s members in the European Parliament, over double the number of stations opened for the European elections in 2019. Romanian nationals who live or travel abroad temporarily will be able to cast their ballots in any polling station abroad, using Romanian IDs valid on the day of the vote.

     

     

    WAR IN GAZA – Health Minister Alexandru Rafila on Friday announced Romanian hospitals are preparing to treat a number of Palestinian children wounded in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. The patients will be transported to Romania under the European Protection Mechanism. The Romanian official did not specify exactly when the children are expected to arrive, mentioning this would happen “in the near future”. Romanian authorities will ship 90,000 units of canned food to Gaza to support the Palestinian people. The European Commission is expected to cover transport costs.

     

     

    STUDENTS – A government resolution sets out the overall enrolment figures for public undergraduate and higher education units in Romania in the 2024 – 2025 academic year. The document sets the number of students to be enrolled in preschools, primary, secondary and high schools in the country, including for Romanian nationals living abroad, and for foreign citizens under bilateral agreements and unilateral commitments. Romanians living abroad will benefit from 1,900 places in undergraduate education units and 7,065 places in public universities, with a total of 800 monthly grants. For foreign citizens, 1,800 places have been earmarked in undergraduate education units and 4,430 in higher education institutions, with a total 1,710 monthly grants. Enrolment plans also include special places for minors who have applied for or received protection in Romania, and for stateless minors officially recognized as residing in Romania, the government explained. (AMP & VP)