The National Assembly meets today to finally adopt the changes to the Electoral Code on second reading in the plenary hall. After weeks of heated political debates, MPs will close the twenty-ninth revision of the electoral rules. The relevant Legal Committee has already given the green light to the texts that aim at a comprehensive reform of the vote.
Full rehabilitation of machine voting
The main emphasis in the new texts is the return of mandatory machine voting. According to the adopted changes:
All sections with over 300 voters will vote entirely by machines. Paper ballots remain only for small settlements with less than 300 people. The ruling party abandoned the controversial idea of the Ministry of Interior participating in the software certification.You can find more details about the Ministry of Interior's withdrawal from the verification process in the Nova TV report (nova.bg/news/view/2026/07/30/545971/).
End of the "Abroad" electoral district and new rules outside the EU
The parliamentary majority decided to finally delete the texts for the creation of an independent "Abroad" electoral district. The changes also seriously affect Bulgarians abroad:
Limit of maximum 20 sections in countries outside the European Union is removed. The opening of polling stations is facilitated with a minimum of 40 applications submitted by citizens.An analysis of the reasons for the elimination of the "Abroad" district and the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were published in the economic publication Capital (capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/2026/07/28/4940316_mashinite_sa_izcialo_reabilitirani_za_prezidentskite/).
Ban on exit polls on social networks and new powers for the CEC
At the proposal of "Progressive Bulgaria" strict sanctions are being introduced for media profiles on social networks that disseminate intermediate sociological data on election day. The restriction is valid until the end of election day at 20:00. However, personal blogs and individual profiles of citizens are excluded from the scope of the fines.
The decision-making mechanism in the Central Election Commission (CEC) is also changing - from now on, decisions will be made by a simple majority (more than half of the members), instead of the previous two-thirds. The official motives and the full chronology of the draft laws are available on the website of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (bta.bg/bg/news/bulgaria/1175910-ochakva-se-parlamentat-da-obsadi-zakonovi-promeni-otnosno-deynostta-na-kolektivn).