Five foreigners standing as candidates in Bulgaria’s October 2015 municipal elections
Five citizens of European Union countries other than Bulgaria are standing as candidate municipal councillors in Bulgaria’s October 25 2015 municipal elections, the Central Election Commission said on October 8.
Under EU and Bulgarian law, citizens of EU countries other than Bulgaria may join the country’s citizens in voting in municipal elections and standing as candidate councillors, although non-Bulgarian EU citizens are not allowed to stand as candidate mayors.
The five include a UK citizen in the ski resort mountain town of Bansko, another UK citizen in Troyan, two Netherlands nationals, in Veliko Turnovo and in Chiprovtsi and a German standing for election in the northern city of Vidin.
There were three candidate councillors with dual citizenship, the CEC said.
The number of non-Bulgarian EU citizens standing in the 2015 elections matches that in the 2011 municipal elections.
In all, a total of 42 702 people are standing for election in Bulgaria’s cities, towns and villages on October 25.
There are 1605 candidate municipal mayors, 10 072 district mayor candidates and 696 borough mayor candidates. Candidate municipal councillors add up to 35 771.
The CEC said that the figures did not add up to the total number of candidates because a candidate may stand simultaneously to be mayor and a municipal councillor.
(Illustration: The message that Bulgarian law requires to be included in broadcast media material related to elections, saying that ‘buying and selling of votes is a crime’. Language pedants have queried why the singular is used.)
