Deadline set for EU nationals to register to vote in Bulgaria’s MEP elections
Bulgaria’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) approved on April 9 a timeline ahead of the country’s June 9 European Parliament elections, including deadlines related to citizens of other European Union countries who are resident in Bulgaria and who want to vote in the elections here.
Bulgarian election law says that all citizens of an EU country, who are not Bulgarian citizen, shall have the right to elect Bulgaria’s members of the European Parliament if they attained the age of 18 years by election day inclusive, are not interdicted, are not serving a custodial sentence, have long-term or permanent residence status in Bulgaria, have resided in Bulgaria or in another EU country at least during the past three months, and are not deprived of the right to elect in the EU country of which they are citizens.
Citizens of other EU countries also may stand as candidates in Bulgarian European Parliament elections if they have attained the age of 21 years by election day inclusive, are not interdicted, not serving a custodial sentence, not deprived of the right to be elected in the EU country of which the person is a citizen, have long-term or permanent residence status in Bulgaria, and have resided in Bulgaria or in another EU country at least during the past six months.
Given Brexit, UK nationals no longer have the right to vote in a European Parliament election.
To be included in the voters roll, citizens of another EU member state must present a completed model declaration to the administration of the municipality where they reside.
This declaration has several elements.
These include citizenship, residential address in Bulgaria, the place in an EU member state where they were last on the voters roll, a declaration that the person will vote only in Bulgaria, that the person is not deprived of the right to vote in their EU country of citizenship, identity card or passport data and personal number, and the date since when he or she has resided in Bulgaria or another EU country.
A citizen of another EU state, once having been included in the voters roll, is automatically included in the roll for subsequent Bulgarian elections of members of the European Parliament.
New declarations should be lodged only if one of the declared circumstances has changed.
In Bulgaria’s June 2024 European Parliament elections, the deadline for filing the declaration is April 29.
The CEC has until May 8 to send notifications to the country of citizenship of an EU national who has registered in Bulgaria as a candidate MEP.
The commission has until May 15 to send to the relevant authorities in other EU member states a list of their citizens who have been included in Bulgaria’s voters roll.
A citizen of another EU country who has been included in Bulgaria’s voters roll may submit a written application to the municipal or district mayor or deputy mayor to be removed from the roll. The deadline to do so in the June 2024 elections is June 1.
The official campaign period ahead of Bulgaria’s European Parliament elections – which are being held simultaneously with early parliamentary elections, in which citizens of other EU countries do not have the right to vote – begins on May 10 and ends on June 7.
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