Bulgaria votes in local government elections

On October 29, Bulgaria is holding the first round of elections for mayors and municipal councillors. Voting will be conducted with paper ballots only after the Central Election Commission did not reconsider its decision (taken on Friday) to abolish the machine voting. Election day starts at 7am and ends at 8pm.

Central Election Commission decided: Voting will be conducted only with paper ballots in the upcoming local elections

There have been no reports of electoral irregularities or problems at the opening of the polling stations.

More than 6 million people are eligible to vote - anyone aged 18 or over, not under a custodial sentence, not serving a custodial sentence and registered at their permanent or current address in the municipality or town hall where they intend to vote.

The Bulgarians are voting for 265 mayors of municipalities. There are 5 times more candidates for mayors than at previous elections. In the three largest cities in the country - Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna, there are 440 registered candidates for 35 district mayors.

There are more than 12,200 polling stations and 407 mobile polling stations for people with disabilities. There is voting aboad in local government elections.

58 parties and 9 coalitions are registered with the Central Electoral Commission to take part in the elections.