LISBON, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese Constitutional Court on Wednesday voided ballots cast by citizens living abroad in Europe during the elections in January, and ordered a rerun of voting in March.
That came in response to a criminal complaint filed by six parties, which claimed that 80 percent of mail-in votes from Portuguese living abroad in Europe were invalid because they were not accompanied by the voters' identity document.
In a press conference, Vera Penedo, representative of the National Election Commission, confirmed that the new voting in the overseas constituency of Europe will occur on March 12-13 for in-person voting, while the postal ballots will be received until March 23.
The results will be released on March 25, if there are no appeals, said Joao Tiago Machado, the commission's spokesman.
Portugal's national electoral commission had announced that the Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Antonio Costa won a majority in the parliamentary elections held on Jan. 30.
But the swearing-in of the new government, initially scheduled for Feb. 23, will be delayed until the second week of March.
For the 2022 legislative elections, 1,521,947 voters registered abroad will choose four seats in the parliament -- two members representing those living in the rest of Europe and the other two for the outside of Europe. ■