The National Electoral Commission (CNE) has acknowledged a communication from the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI), attached to the minutes of the April 30 meeting, regarding the exceptional extension of the registration period for early voting for imprisoned and hospitalized citizens, as stated in a note sent to Lusa.
The CNE minutes from April 30 reveal that the commission was informed of the SGMAI’s decision and include a statement from one of its members, Sílvia Gonçalves, who expressed “serious doubts regarding the legality” of this decision.
“We cannot fail to record serious doubts about the legality of this extension, administratively implemented, of a legal deadline,” Sílvia Gonçalves remarked in her statement, which Lusa reported on May 11.
Today, the CNE clarified that this viewpoint represents only that of the member who attended the meeting and not that of the CNE, which merely “took note” of the SGMAI’s decision.
The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Internal Administration decided to extend the deadline for registration in early voting by an additional day for prisoners and hospitalized patients to “accommodate all registration requests that, possibly, could not be fulfilled (…) due to power and communication failures in Mainland Portugal, which may have prevented citizens from registering for these voting modalities,” the ministry explained at the time.
With this decision, the registration period for early voting for imprisoned voters and hospitalized patients concluded on April 29.
