Bulgaria’s July elections: 18 parties, 9 coalitions registered
Eighteen political parties and nine coalitions have registered to participate in Bulgaria’s July 11 2021 parliamentary elections, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on May 27, the day after the deadline to apply to register passed.
Initiially, there were 19 political parties, but the commission found that one of the parties lacked sufficient valid signatures in support of its application.
In Bulgaria’s April 4 2021 parliamentary elections, 22 parties and eight coalitions participated.
The commission said that the outcomes of checks on the applications by three political parties and one coalition were awaited.
The commission has done a first test run on the use of voting machines, given that the recent amendments to the Electoral Code provide that at every polling station where more than 300 voters are registered, voting machines must be used – meaning that this will predominate over the use of paper ballots.
Seventy-five voters voted in an hour in the experiment. Most had been using a voting machine for the first time. The first test included asking some voters to “change their minds”, so as to simulate a scenario involving a delay.
A second and possibly a third test run will be done and the commission will analyse the results.
Commission spokesperson Rositsa Mateva said that the CEC’s view was that at polling stations where there are more than 450 voters registered, there should be two voting machines.
(Screenshot from Bulgarian National Television)
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