#EuropeanElections2019/Foreign Affairs Ministry: All 441 polling stations abroad operational, working normally

All 441 polling stations opened abroad are operational and working normally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Sunday. "Apart from isolated technical incidents that were quickly remedied, in the early morning hours all activities in the diaspora polling stations are running within the normal parameters. The Romanians' turnout is substantial and the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs involved in the electoral process is making efforts to make sure that all the Romanian citizens abroad exercise their voting right," the Foreign Ministry said in a release. The Ministry also said it has organized a "record high number" of polling stations, more than twice the number set up at previous elections. "Compared with the previous elections to the European Parliament (2014, 2009 and 2007 - that had 190 polling stations each), this year there are by 251 stations more, the current number being 441. Compared to the 2018 national referendum for the revision of the Constitution (378 stations) there are 63 additional stations, and compared to the 2016 parliamentary elections (417), there are 24 more polling stations. In conclusion, the number of polling stations for the Romanian citizens abroad did not decrease, but on the contrary, it has more than doubled from 190 to 441 in 2019. The list of the polling places was decided based on the proposals of Romania's diplomatic missions, which took into account the consultations with the Romanian communities abroad, their requests to have new stations organised and the assessment of the unfolding of the previous voting processes abroad," the Foreign Ministry explained. The Foreign Ministry reminds Romanian citizens who live abroad that they can vote at any of the polling stations organized on the territory of the state they temporarily reside in. Therefore, if they find that there is a higher turnout at a certain polling station, which would imply a longer waiting time for exercising their right to vote, the Ministry's recommendation to the Romanian citizens is to travel to the nearest station. The polling stations are organized at the premises of Romania's diplomatic and consular missions, at the headquarters of cultural institutions abroad, at honorary consulates, but also in other locations. Most polling stations were set up in Italy (76, by 3 more than in 2016), Spain (50), the Republic of Moldova (36), the United States (31), the United Kingdom (29, by 8 more than in 2016 ), Germany (25, by 10 more than in 2016), France (17), Austria (9), Belgium (8). According to the Foreign Ministry, crowding has been reported during the day at some polling stations abroad, with occasional situations reported where compact groups of voters arrived simultaneously at the same station, affecting the flow of the voting process (a particular case refers to a group of 5 buses that arrived simultaneously at the same polling place). Also, there have been reports of ballot boxes getting filled up following a significant number of citizens casting their ballots, which led to minor delays in the electoral process, as the boxes had to be replaced with empty ones, the cited source said. "We hereby specify that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has constantly promoted information on the electoral process, the number of polling stations and their location, both on its web page, and on the social media platforms of the Ministry and of Romania's diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad. This approach was doubled by Romania's diplomatic missions and consular offices, which promoted locally information on the location of the polling stations, the voting procedure, the requirements for exercising the right to vote. All these activities allowed the voters to get informed and choose the nearest locations for exercising their right to vote. A special section was created to this effect on the Foreign Ministry's web page, with useful electoral information that is being permanently updated. This information is being streamed in real time on the Ministry's Facebook and Twitter accounts, to help the interested Romanian citizens. The list of the polling stations is available at the address http://www.mae.ro/node/48090," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Adina Panaitescu)