The Ministry of Interior will hold a National Conference on the upcoming early parliamentary elections, dariknews.bg reported.
The conference will be held on Friday, March 6, at 10 a.m. in the building of the Main Directorate of the “National Police“.
The political and professional leadership of the Ministry of Interior, the directors of main and administrative directorates, the Directorate of the Ministry of Interior and the Directorate of the Ministry of Interior will be present.
The Central Election Commission's (CEC) information campaign begins today, said Deputy Chairperson and CEC spokesperson Rositsa Mateva at the first regular briefing dedicated to the upcoming April 19 vote, BTA reported.
Mateva explained that the campaign slogan is active and voters can participate by indicating their reason for vote on the CEC pages on Facebook or Instagram. The proposal that has collected the most likes will be part of the CEC's vision, Mateva said.
Voters in Bulgaria
In the CEC's section “National Assembly Elections April 19“ the number of voters on preliminary voter lists, as well as the addresses of the polling stations, has been published. The General Directorate "Civil Registration and Administrative Services" is about to activate on their website the possibility for each voter to check in which section they have the right to vote, Mateva said.
In the same section for voters on the CEC website from March 7, the possibility for everyone to check whether they are on the lists of support for a party and coalition for registration to participate in these elections will be activated. If citizens find themselves on lists that they have not signed, they should file reports and complaints with the Personal Data Protection Commission, not the CEC, said Rositsa Mateva.
Voters abroad
Voters who wish to vote outside the country can submit applications to do so. They can be submitted in writing through diplomatic and consular missions or electronically on the CEC website. Electronic submission of voting applications will be activated tonight at 00:00. The deadline for submitting applications is March 24, Mateva said.
The locations and number of polling stations that will be opened will be announced on March 28 by a decision of the Central Election Commission, but it is made at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the diplomatic and consular missions, Mateva explained.
Voting machines
The Bulgarian state has 12,837 machines. Never in national elections have more than 10,000 machines been used simultaneously, Mateva said. We have a sufficient number of machines. They are stored in the warehouse where they were placed when purchased. This is a private warehouse, but it is under the protection of the Ministry of Interior. Only persons who have been previously checked by the Ministry of Interior and the State Agency “National Security“ and after permission from the CEC, said Rositsa Mateva.
REC and SIC
All 31 district election commissions (RECs) have been appointed. Only for two commissions was an agreement reached with the regional governors during the consultations, so in the rest, for the remaining 29 commissions, the CEC appointed these compositions ex officio. Four appeals have been filed against the decision to appoint RECs - Ruse, Plovdiv - region, Targovishte and Silistra. We are awaiting a decision from the Supreme Administrative Court, said Mateva.
The CEC determined that the number of section election commissions (SECs) will be up to nine, because that is how many parliamentaryly represented parties and coalitions are entitled to at least one member in the SEC. The minimum number of members cannot be less than five, said Mateva.
The decision explicitly states that after the appointment of the SIC, changes in the personnel composition can occur only if the conditions of Article 51, paragraph 2 of the Electoral Code are met - resignation, i.e. application by the members of the SIC, entry into force of a sentence, placement under guardianship, permanent inability to perform their work, said Mateva. Only under these conditions and in these cases do RECs have the right to make replacements in the personnel composition or on election day, when one of the members does not appear, said Mateva.
Voting screens
The CEC determined the dimensions of the screens. Yesterday we adopted a decision that allowed for centralized delivery by the Council of Ministers or decentralized delivery by regional governors or municipal administrations. The decision on who will deliver them is up to the Council of Ministers. It must make it and say it – will it be the one who will deliver the screens centrally, will it announce a public procurement, or will it be the regional governors or municipal administrations, said Rositsa Mateva.
On February 20, Acting Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov and the CEC leadership held their first meeting dedicated to the upcoming parliamentary elections, at which one of the topics was precisely the voting screens. To improve the organization, it would be very good if we had a standard format for the screens and they were provided centrally, so that we would have the same screens in all sections, said Andrey Gyurov after the meeting.