Irregularities in the inclusion of a copy of the citizen’s card resulted in the cancellation of the majority of postal votes cast by Portuguese people abroad in the legislative elections on March 10, concluded a study published by the National Elections Commission (CNE).
The study was commissioned by the body to try to understand the reasons for the 256% increase in the number of invalid votes between the elections for the Legislative Assembly in 2022 (35,472) and 2024 (126,241).
According to the 300 vote counting minutes analyzed, 82.66% of invalid votes resulted from “irregularities in the envelopes”, but the percentage rises to 98.9% when cases of unspecified invalidation are excluded, the study states.
Of the 183 minutes where the information is even more detailed, 97.11% of invalid votes are due to the lack of a photocopy of the identification document in the respective envelope, which is mandatory for the postal vote to be accepted.
The results of the study were presented by the CNE member proposed by the Livre party, André Wemans, at the Portugal+ conference in London, organized by the newspaper Bom Dia.
“It’s a problem that we have to be able to correct somehow, because the objective is to connect all Portuguese people to these electoral processes,” he said, in a discussion panel dedicated to political participation.
The study, in addition to recommending further investigation into the reasons why copies of identification documents are not included, suggests an information campaign on postal voting aimed at voters residing abroad and another study on the introduction of an electronic voting system via the Internet in European and non-European circles.
“The National Elections Commission is not a legislator, it does not make or suggest legislation itself, it can only react to proposed legislation”, explained Wemans.
These data coincide with some of the provisional results of a survey carried out by the association Somos Portugueses among Portuguese emigrants about the legislative elections following the high number of invalid votes.
The president, Paulo Costa, revealed, at the same event, that several admitted ignorance or distraction.
However, some respondents indicated that they did not include a copy of the citizen’s card in their postal vote on purpose because they considered the method unsafe, too complex, because it is illegal (in Australia) or because in Switzerland postal voting does not require such a procedure.
According to Costa, 82% of respondents said they were in favor of electronic voting, 45% supported postal voting, 40% in-person voting and 8% voting by proxy.
The association has an open petition for the introduction of non-in-person online voting for Portuguese citizens residing abroad, along with postal voting and in-person voting in all elections.
According to Paulo Costa, the great enthusiasm of emigrants for electronic voting shows that “this is not just a fixation of Also Somos Portugueses, it is something that the vast majority of Portuguese abroad would like to have”.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
