The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees approved this Wednesday the PSD’s request to hear various subjects on changes in the electoral legislation, namely regarding the voting of citizens living abroad.
Members unanimously approved the hearing of the Ombudsman, the Council of the Portuguese Communities, the National Center for Cybersecurity, the Agency for Administrative Modernization, CTT, the Supreme Electoral Court of Brazil (via videoconference), the National Electoral Commission of Estonia (via videoconference), and the signatories of the two petitions.
The SDP wants to hear from these organizations about the draft law it introduced to the Assembly of the Republic, which was generally approved in March and is currently under special consideration in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.
This initiative aims to increase the possibility of postal voting for expats in presidential and European elections and to pilot non-binding e-voting in the next European elections for residents abroad.
During the meeting, the Social Democrats stated that this series of hearings was “necessary for the good advancement of work in the specialty.”
The PS suggested that these hearings could take place within the framework of the working group on the simplification and harmonization of electoral legislation, which the socialists proposed to resume.
Chega believed that “there is a problem with the Portuguese voting abroad”, as “clearly demonstrated in the last legislative elections”, defending that “it cannot happen again”.
Lusa/The End
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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