Polling stations abroad opened during parliamentary elections in Portugal and Moldova in 2025
In 28th September 2025 the parliamentary elections was held in Moldova. The election were praised as the pivotal moment for Moldova to choose between tightening relations with European Union or being stranded with Russia.
Back in January 2022 I was on a city trip in Lisbon and during my stay there were a lot of political ads floating around the major avenues. As I come from Central Europe (or Eastern if you don't care about the feeling of citizens of countries that joined the EU in 2004), I was stunned that the hammer and sickle emblems are so ubiquitous. If I were not at least somewhat knowledgebable about the history of places other than Poland I would be disgusted, what country lets display an emblem of the Soviet Union that invaded Poland alongside Nazi Germany...
In 18th May 2025 Portugal held election of its unicameral parliament...
Number of Portuguese polling stations: 118
If you take a closer look you can clearly see places that used to part of the Portuguese Empire. Dili in East Timor, Goa in India, Macau in China and numerous places where Portuguese could vote in Brazil shows that Portuguese still travel there or retained family connections.
Number of Moldovan polling stations: 301 (69 more than in previous elections in 2024)
Even though Moldova have three times smaller population than Portugal, the current diaspora of Moldovans is probably more numerous as Moldova is much poorer and large emigration starter later than Portuguese so they still retain the link to the home country. The map clearly shows that Northern Italy was the most desirable region to emigrate for Moldovans. Unlike Portugal, Moldova did not establish a single polling station in South America and Africa.