A day before the parliamentary vote, the Central Election Commission assured that preparations in the country and abroad are going according to plan, despite individual problems with ballots and concerns about long queues at polling stations outside Bulgaria.
CEC spokesperson Rositsa Mateva commented that the most serious difficulties are expected in the UK, where the polling stations are significantly fewer compared to previous elections.
„We'll see tomorrow. We hope they will succeed“, she said regarding the question of whether all Bulgarian citizens in the UK will be able to exercise their right to vote.
According to Mateva, the sections abroad were opened at the suggestion of the diplomatic and consular missions, which know the distribution of Bulgarian communities best.
She explained that when the voter is already on the list, the process is faster because a declaration is not filled out on the spot.
“When the person is on the electoral list, he does not submit a declaration outside the country, the section election commission does not add it and the voting process is faster“, Mateva said.
Bulgarians who have not submitted a prior application also have the opportunity to vote.
“All Bulgarian citizens who are outside the country in the election period day, can vote, as long as there is a section commission in the place where they are“, she emphasized.
The CEC reminded that election day can be extended by no more than one hour if at 8:00 p.m. there are still voters waiting in front of the section.
“It can be extended in each individual section depending on whether there are voters in front of the section election commission at 8:00 p.m.“, said Mateva.
She specified that if the commission determines that all those waiting cannot vote within the additional hour, only as many will be allowed as can actually exercise their vote by 9:00 p.m.
Among the main problems in recent days have been technical defects in some of the paper ballots.
The first signal was received from Dobrich, where discrepancies between the ballot number and the cob number, as well as ballots without numbers. Subsequently, the same problem was also found in Shumen.
„On Thursday evening, we made a decision and assigned the BNB printing house to print a complete new edition for the Dobrich region“, Mateva explained.
A new edition has also been assigned for Shumen.
„Yesterday, we assigned the printing of a new edition for Shumen, again to the BNB printing house“, she said.
The old ballots will be destroyed.
The pens are also being checked
Following a signal about the possible use of pens with „nice ink“, which disappears, the CEC has ordered inspections.
„The pens are being checked everywhere“, Mateva stated.
On her words, so far there is no evidence of irregularities.
Rositsa Mateva also commented on the case of the demonstration with a screwdriver during the inspection of the voting machines, emphasizing that the devices cannot be manipulated in the described manner.
“The actions themselves showed that in fact the machines cannot be influenced in this way“, she said.
According to her, the machines are kept under guard, and after installing the certified software, any subsequent change would be impossible without a special key.
“In order to install something else on them, they must be unlocked. Otherwise, they remain just a monument“, Mateva also said.