Central Election Commission: Voter turnout at 26.25% as at 4 p.m.

Voter turnout in the October 27 early parliamentary elections is 26.25% as at 4 p.m., the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on its website.

By 4 p.m., turnout was highest in Smolyan, at 32.33%, and lowest in Sliven, at 20.34%.

The turnout at 11:00 in the previous early parliamentary elections, held on June 9, was 20.44%.

Machine voting has been halted on 95 voting machines - 91 in the country and 4 abroad. In the previous elections, 100 machines were halted as at at this hour.

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The October 27 elections were the seventh early elections since 2021.

Bulgarians went to the polls to elect members of the 240 seat national Parliament three times in 2021, once in 2022 and once in 2023.

Today's vote was the second one in 2024.

Only two of the previous parliamentary elections in the past three years have produced an elected government, neither of which came close to serving a full term.