Election Commission: Preparations for October 2 elections proceed normally

The preparation for the October 2 early general elections is proceeding normally, within the established deadlines and procedures, Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission said at a briefing on September 29.

CEC spokesman, Tsvetozar Tomov, said that paper ballots and voting machines had been sent to the polling stations outside the country.

"In the country, there are 11,636 polling stations, of which 9,369 will be with machine voting. Outside the country, the number of polling stations is 755. In total, we will use 11,013 machines. There will be a sufficient number of paper ballots everywhere so that if there are problems with the machines, we can switch to paper ballots," Tsvetozar Tomov added.

He explained that the number of eligible voters exceeds 6 million and 600 thousand.

On election day, 4 polls will be taken by agencies. There will be over 1,000 observers.

Rositsa Mateva explained that polling stations are to be opened in medical institutions.

"I appeal to the members of the CEC to read the methodological instructions. One can vote only by permanent address or by current address if an application is submitted on time," Mateva clarified.

According to her, the machines will not be changed on election day, if there is a problem, they will switch to paper ballots.