Slovaks living abroad who asked for the opportunity to vote by post and who fulfilled all the requirements have already sent back to Slovakia more than three quarters of all their votes. The ballots for the March 10 parliamentary elections come from places like Barbados, Japan and Dubai, among others.
The spokesperson for the municipal office of the Petržalka borough of Bratislava, Mária Grebeňová-Laczová, said that by Tuesday, March 6, 561 voting envelopes had arrived at her office, representing a 77-percent return rate, the SITA newswire reported. The office handles votes from Slovaks abroad who have no permanent residence in the country. It is the third time that Slovaks have been allowed to vote from abroad.
Most of the envelopes received in Petržalka came from Europe, Grebeňová-Lazcová said, but added that ballots also came from the USA, Mexico, Canada, Barbados, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Dubai. “We can accept only those envelopes which arrive the day before election at the latest, i.e. on or by Friday, March 9. Thus, voters from abroad have only a few days left to vote by post,” she said.
Altogether, 728 voters living in foreign countries asked to vote in this way. Most of the applications came from the Czech Republic, US, Canada and EU countries, but also from Lebanon, Morocco and South Africa.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.