Comrat voters' request to change color of ballot is unfounded, CEC secretary

The secretary of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Andrei Volentir considers that the request of the Comrat residents to modify the color of the ballot for the election of the mayor from pink into purple, as in Chisinau and Balti, is unfounded. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, Andrei Volentir said a final decision will be taken after the request is examined by the CEC. “The municipality of Comrat is a territorial-administrative unit of the first level, as the towns and villages. The municipality of Balti and the municipality of Chisinau are units of the second level assimilated to districts and the color of the ballot for the Municipal Council coincides with the color of the ballot for the District Council. As a matter of fact, the color does not matter. It is important that the ballots are of the same size and form. The color helps the members of the electoral bureau not to mix things up,” said Andrei Volentir. Fiodor Gaidarji, chairman of the Comrat district electoral council, told Info-Prim Neo earlier that the authors of the challenge argued that Comrat has the status of municipality and the ballot should have the same color as those for Chisinau and Balti, i.e. purple. The ballots for the June 5 local elections will be pink for the mayoral elections in villages and towns, purple for the mayoral elections in the municipalities of Balti and Chisinau, beige for the election of district and municipal councils, and gray for the election of village and town councils.