site.btaUPDATED Foreign Ministry: No Reports of Problems with Voting Abroad

Deputy Foreign Minister Radi Naidenov told a briefing on Sunday that no problems with voting abroad had been reported. The Foreign Ministry aims to organize fair elections, he said.

There are 493 voting sections for Bulgarians in 55 countries. The most numerous voting sections abroad have been opened in Germany (70), followed by Spain (67), the UK (28), Italy and Turkiye (27 each), Greece (26), the United States (25), the Netherlands (24), France (19), and Austria, Belgium and Canada (17 each).

Legal amendments adopted at the beginning of 2026 limited the number of sections in non-EU countries to 20 each, not counting the sections at the diplomatic missions and consular posts.

Naidenov said he would welcome every Bulgarian citizen who takes part in the election process. The election day will be extended where necessary, he said.

The largest Bulgarian communities are in the UK, the US, Turkiye, Germany, Spain, Greece and Cyprus, said the Deputy Foreign Minister, stressing that the size of a community does not necessarily reflect the number of voters.

According to him, larger communities naturally lead to gatherings of people. "There have always been crowds in Turkiye, but not only there - also in the UK, the US and Germany. Let us not alarm people by talking about queues; let us encourage them to vote, that is more important," he said.

Naidenov added that the first voting sections opened in New Zealand and Australia, and that election day has already begun across Europe. He recalled that no voting sections have been opened in countries affected by military conflicts.

Boriana Stoynova of the Foreign Ministry's Elections task force presented a map of voting sections abroad and a list of their addresses. She urged citizens to check the addresses, noting that they may differ from locations used in previous elections. Bulgarian citizens who have not submitted prior applications can vote in a section and country of their choice.