The PSD will push for the extension of the possibility to vote by mail for emigrants in presidential and European elections and will propose a pilot project for electronic voting, non-binding, for residents abroad in the next European elections.
These are the central objectives of a draft law presented this Friday by the Social Democrats to the Assembly of the Republic, which, in the part of the postal vote, takes over diplomas delivered in previous legislatures.
In the bill, which Lusa had access to, the PSD recalls that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on the night he was re-elected in the 2021 presidential election, defended the need for a review of the legislation before new elections, to start thinking , namely: voting by mail – a possibility that already exists for emigrants in parliamentary elections -, emphasizing that this is also “a pretension that has been suggested for some time by Portuguese communities abroad”.
“We believe that the right to choose between voting in person or by post, currently enshrined in the electoral law for the Assembly of the Republic (…) as it is a measure that limits the electoral participation of Portuguese citizens living abroad live, enlarged, should be extended, both presidential elections and European elections”represents the PSD.
In the explanatory memorandum, the Social Democrats point out that the electoral participation of Portuguese citizens living abroad “falls far short of what is desirable”, with only 1.88% of the registered vote in the last presidential election and in the European elections of 2019 only 0 0.96% of the total universe.
The party also points out that the amendment introducing this possibility, in 2018 “in the impetus of the PSD” in the Electoral Law for the Assembly of the Republic, “greatly increased the electoral participation of Portuguese residents abroad”.
In the diploma now presented, the PSD also proposes that the government promotes “an ongoing information campaign among voters registered abroad on how to exercise their right, under the electoral law, to choose between voting in person or by mail”, “should create a portal on the Internet for this purpose, without prejudice to other forms of information dissemination”.
In the last parliamentary elections, in January 2022, the vote in the circle of Europe had to be repeated, after the Constitutional Court annulled the elections in these assemblies, delaying the start of the XV and the current legislature.
On that occasion, more than 157,000 votes cast by voters in the Europe Circle were declared invalid because valid votes were mixed with invalid votes during the count, not accompanied by a copy of the ID, as required by law.
The PSD bill also proposes to implement the introduction at the European elections of 2024 “a non-binding pilot project for non-face-to-face electronic voting for voters living abroad”forcing the government to create a portal for this.
This electronic vote (which, being a pilot project, does not preclude the exercise of the right to vote in person or by mail) entails validating the identity of the voter in one of four ways: via the Digital Mobile Key ; with the citizen pass and associated pin code, via the citizen card reader; sent via secret and unrepeatable code or to the e-mail address; or to the mobile phone number on the citizen card.
“It is mandatory that, at the time of the provisional announcement of the election results after the close of polls, the results of the votes counted with the pilot project are also disclosed with the same level of detail”refers to the PSD project, which also plans for the government to send a detailed report on the experience to parliament “identifying the opportunities for improvement and the main shortcomings or limitations”.
In its constitutional revision project, the PSD also has a proposal to enable electronic voting in election acts and referenda.
Source: DN
