President Vetoes Election Code Changes Limiting Number of Polling Stations Abroad

President Iliyana Iotova on Febaruary 11 returned for reconsideration by the National Assembly several provisions of the Law Amending the Election Code, adopted on 5 February 2026.

Parliament Approves Final Amendments to Election Code, Capping Polling Stations in Non-EU Countries at 20

The President voiced opposition to changes limiting the number of polling stations that may be opened in countries outside the European Union. She stressed that, wherever they reside, Bulgarian citizens enjoy all rights and obligations under the Constitution, and that the state is duty-bound to guarantee equality in the exercise of the right to vote.

Under the adopted amendments, a ceiling of 20 polling stations may be established outside the premises of diplomatic and consular missions, regardless of the number of applications submitted.

“In their current form, these changes jeopardise the principle of universal suffrage enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution,” President Iotova wrote in her reasoning. She cited a Constitutional Court ruling stating that “the state is obliged to ensure conditions for the free and unhindered exercise of the right to vote by every Bulgarian citizen […] The constitutional guarantee of the inalienability of the right to vote precludes the possibility […] of creating, by law, procedural obstacles that hinder or render impossible its exercise.”

In her reasoning, the head of state argues that the amendments deliberately create barriers to the exercise of voting rights by Bulgarians living outside the European Union. These difficulties may arise from the distance to polling stations, the large number of citizens wishing to vote, and the limited number able to do so within election day. As a result, these citizens may be hindered or prevented from complying with the principle of compulsory voting laid down in the Election Code, she said.

According to the President, the proposed changes also breach the constitutional principle of equality. She noted that differing legal regimes for the establishment of polling stations create unequal opportunities for Bulgarian citizens to exercise their right to vote, placing those living outside the EU at a disadvantage. “The Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria does not provide for such unequal treatment of Bulgarian citizens residing abroad,” President Iotova recalled.

“Instead of the right to vote serving as a means of integrating all Bulgarian citizens into the country’s political governance, artificial and unjustified barriers are being erected to the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right,” she added.

The President further warned that the amendments risk further undermining public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. “The changes also run counter to the repeatedly stated commitment of representatives of state institutions, politicians, non-governmental organisations and citizens to make optimal efforts to increase voter turnout,” she concluded.