Those affected by the changes to the Electoral Code (EC) are mainly voters in Turkey, the USA and the UK, commented on NOVA's airwaves the Deputy Chairperson of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Rositsa Mateva.
Yesterday, the Parliament finally adopted on second reading the change to the Electoral Code, according to which up to 20 polling stations can be formed in countries that are not members of the European Union (EU) outside of Bulgarian diplomatic and consular representations.
According to Mateva, this change will not make the work of the CEC easier.
„The assessment of where these stations should be located will be more difficult. It is up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the heads of diplomatic and consular missions“, she pointed out. After applications are submitted, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will submit proposals to the CEC on where these sections should be located, taking into account, in addition to the applications submitted, where the most voters voted in the last elections, Mateva added.
She recalled that in the 2016 elections there was a limit of 35 sections. In places in the UK there were quite a few queues, she said. According to her, when there were 35 sections, 34,000 people voted in the UK, in the next elections at 135 sections, 35,000 voted, and in the last elections – 21,000.
The legislator is considering what changes to the rules to introduce, in this case we are implementing them, commented Rositsa Mateva regarding the changes in the EC.
The bill that envisaged the introduction of the scanners did not enter the plenary hall. I do not know if it is about to happen, but now there is no time, she added.
„The opinion of the CEC, which was expressed to the working groups at the beginning of 2025, is that any new technology should be introduced gradually. First, as an experiment, to check how it can work on the ground, especially with our ballots, which are different“, explained Mateva.
Members of sectional commissions are proposed by the parties represented in parliament, we hope that this time members who were found to have committed violations will not be proposed, she added.