More than 900 polling stations have been organised for Romanians who want to vote abroad in the election to the European Parliament, most of them – 150 – in Italy, special electoral officer with Romania’s Foreign Ministry (MAE) Iulian Ivan told a news conference on Tuesday.

He said that 915 is a record, and the number of stations is directly proportional to the number of Romanians in each country.

Thus, most polling stations are in Italy – 150, Spain – 147, and the UK – 104.

There are places where polling stations were not organised either because Romanian military personnel were withdrawn from the region or because the diplomatic mission was closed or moved. These are Afghanistan, Mali, Russia – Rostov on Don, Ukraine – Odessa, Sudan, Libya, North Korea, and Venezuela.

Ivan added that more than 2.5 million ballots and more than 8,400 stamps have been sent so far. He said that all Romanian citizens who will be abroad can vote at any polling station opened by MAE abroad.

Depending on the time zone, voting abroad will start on June 8, 22:00hrs, EEST – the first stations to open are in New Zealand – and will end on June 10, 08:00hrs, EEST – the last stations to close are on the US West Coast.

A list of the polling stations abroad and theirs addresses is available on www.mae.ro/sites/default/files/file/anul_2024/alegeri_2024/lista_sectiilor_de_votare_9_iunie_2024_site_mae.pdf.

In the June 9 elections, voting starts at 07:00hrs local time and ends at 22:00hrs. Voters who are at the polling station at 22:00hrs, as well as those who are queuing outside to enter the polling place may exercise their right to vote until 23:59hrs, local time.

AGERPRES