The obligation to have a place of domicile for being able to vote in the single-member constituency runs counter to the Constitution, is discriminatory and limitative, consider experts of Promo-LEX Association. They said that over 155,000 electors without a place of domicile or residence, which is 4.78% of those written on the State Register of Voters, risk being deprived of the right to vote, IPN reports.

The new Election Code provides that the voters cast their ballots at the polling place of the single-member constituency where they live. The voters who do not have the domicile in the given constituency do not take part in the parliamentary elections in single-member constituencies.

The experts of Promo-LEX said the changes concerning the participation by voters without domicile in different types of constituencies, made to the Election Code, are not explicit and leave room for interpretation. An eventual permission to vote only in the national consistency would affect the value of the option of the people and, consequently, the principle of equal suffrage, which is enshrined in the Constitution. Furthermore, it would be a violation of the guidelines of the European Commission for Democracy through Law according to which each voter has, in principle, the right to one vote. If the electoral system gives the voters the right to cast more votes, each voter benefits from the same number of votes.

The experts recommend amending Article 87, par. (4) of the Election Code so as to exclude the obligation to have a place of domicile and enable everyone to vote and Article 80 of the Election Code so as to remove the conditions that limit the right of voters without domicile or residence to sign in support of candidates.