Almost 7,000 Romanians living abroad registered to vote by mail in upcoming elections
A total of 6,839 Romanians living abroad registered to vote by mail for the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP). Additionally, 6,916 Romanian citizens have registered to vote by mail for the presidential elections.
The majority of mail-in voting requests came from Romanians residing in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and other countries like France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, and the United States, according to Digi24.
Romanians abroad could register to vote by mail by providing proof of residence in their host country and requesting the necessary voting documents to be mailed to them.
Aside from mail voting, many Romanians have also registered to vote in person at polling stations, with 6,067 registrations for the parliamentary elections and 6,751 for the presidential elections.
The highest number of these registrations came from the Netherlands (1,512 for parliamentary and 1,653 for presidential), followed by the UK, Germany, Italy, and France. These numbers reflect ongoing efforts to facilitate voting for the diaspora, with significant participation expected from countries with large Romanian communities like the UK and Germany.
Over 5 million Romanians live outside the country, and they have sent home over EUR 6.5 billion, or 2% of Romania’s GDP. The median age of the Romanians living in Spain, for example, is slightly over 30 years, according to PM Marcel Ciolacu, cited by ProTV.
(Photo source: Cateyeperspective | Dreamstime.com)