Bulgaria’s electoral commission fines three major TV stations for breaking law on exit polls

Bulgaria’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has said that it is fining the country’s three major television stations for breaking the law that forbids reporting the outcome of exit polls before the end of election day.

BTV, Nova Televizia and public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) all broke this law, both at the first and second rounds of the 2026 presidential elections, as all three also have done in previous recent national elections.

The law says that exit poll results may not be released before 8pm on election day.

On October 25, bTV and Nova announced exit poll results at 7.34pm and BNT did so at 7.37pm, the CEC found after examining recordings of the broadcasts.

On November 1, bTV released exit poll results at 7.18pm, Nova at 7.19pm and BNT at 7.20pm.

In July 2026, Bulgaria’s Parliament amended the Electoral Code, including increasing the fines for breaking the law on exit polls.

For a first offence, the fine formerly was 2000 to 5000 leva, and now is 5000 to 10 000 euro.

For a second and further offence, the fine formerly was 5000 to 10 000 leva, and now is 10 000 to 15 000 euro.

The CEC decision did not specify the size of the fines for the three stations, nor whether their previous offences were to be taken into account in deciding on the sums this time.

(Photo: Txo)