Over 100,000 voters in the diaspora voted on the first day, ie about 60,000 more than last year. If the current voting presence is maintained, the end of the poll could bring a much larger number of voters than those of November 2024, but the exact reasons for this massive vote presence will only be found on Sunday, say sociologists.
Image from vote in the Republic of Moldova last year Facebook photo
The first day of voting in the diaspora, on Friday, May 2, brought to the ballot box more than 118,000 voters, after at 16.00 the number of voters was triple compared to the one in November 2024. Comparatively, last year at the end of the first day of polling there were only 44,000 voters, and at noon the presence at the vote was 4,600 voters and 380 votes. Correspondence reached 4,100 voters.
On the second day of voting, last year at 21.00 210,629 Romanians from the diaspora had voted. This year, at the same time, about 379,000 Romanians from abroad had voted.
Why more people come to vote
Sociologist Gelu Sunday points out that in the current context it must also be taken into account that many people travel in the May 1 mini -vacation, and a massive difference would be represented by 3 million additional voters at the end of the three days.
“We had a good presence in general. I always had plus/minus 10 million. Of course, at the moment the antagonization and polarization and the urges were much stronger and are generated and why it happened in December, but this is not. Maybe a million brings what happened in December last year, the cancellation of the elections.” The sociologist Gelu Sunday is of opinion.
At the same time, the greater presence at the vote may also be due to the fact that “The world, at the moment, understands that it has been polarization as it has not been long. Yes? Pretty big. And everyone is trying to make their voice heard. ”
The greater impact of the election campaign
At the same time, the sociologist Barbu Mateescu emphasizes that the diaspora is divided into two very mobilized electoral segments for different reasons, but this year’s presence also indicates “A communication campaign that has had a much larger impact than the past campaigns ”.
“It will be interesting because if this rhythm is maintained and in the end we reach over 1.5 million votes, in round 1, in November, there were 800,000, we will see people from the diaspora who have never voted, until now, in the diaspora at least. We know, about the communication on Tiktok, who kept, say, especially the diaspora (…) I think many things will be clarified on Sunday.
All polling stations in the country and abroad will close on Sunday, at 21.00 (Romania time).
