"We are finally correcting the years-long shame against our compatriots who have been restricted in their constitutional rights," Senate Vice President Tomáš Czernin told a press conference before the start of the meeting. TOP 09 entered government in 2021 with a promise to adopt postal voting. And this promise to citizens is once again closer to being fulfilled. With the help of senators from TOP 09, the amendment passed the vote in the upper house of Parliament.
"The right to vote is a fundamental civil right. I am pleased that TOP 09 has been legible in this regard for a long time. We prepared the first proposal for a postal vote in 2015. At that time from the pen of the current Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Marek Ženíšek," reminded the Vice President of the Senate Thomas Czernin. "In this context, I am very pleased that the Senate has clearly supported the postal vote. Thanks to it, the Czech Republic will not be one of the last European countries to deny its citizens the possibility of voting by correspondence," he continued.
Voters will use two envelopes for postal voting. They shall place their ballot paper in one of them, to which they shall enclose an identification card in the delivery envelope. This will check whether the voter is registered on the special electoral roll.
"I confess that I do not understand the concerns of some citizens and also of my fellow senators who are opposed to the postal vote. Let us look at the EU countries. With a few exceptions, such as Croatia, Malta and France, where you can vote online from abroad, they do have postal voting and it is fully operational. There can be no question of any falsification of results. Even neighbouring Slovakia adopted a law in 2004, twenty years ago. We are not inventing anything new, we are just catching up with our neighbours," revealed Senator Herbert Pavera. "And it's about time! After all, the Senate approved and sent a similar proposal to the Chamber of Deputies three years ago in the autumn," added Pavera, who is defending his seat as a senator in the Opava district in the autumn elections.
"By approving the postal vote, we are responding to the voices of Czechs who work or study abroad temporarily. We are making a significant contribution to ensuring that elections for them will not be associated only with economic burdens. Without spending unnecessary money on flights and accommodation to places with a Czech embassy or embassy. I have raised my hand for this amendment to the law with great gusto, because if we in the Senate have been waiting for a bill from the Chamber of Deputies, it is this one. Correspondence voting belongs in the 21st century," concluded the 1st Vice-Chairman of the ODS and TOP 09 Senatorial Club Jan Grulich.
The adopted bill provides that Czechs abroad will be able to vote by correspondence at the time of the elections to the Chamber of Deputies, which will take place in the autumn of 2025.
Markéta Volfová, spokeswoman of TOP 09
top09.cz / gnews.cz-roz_07
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