Council of Ministers to Oversee Storage of Ballot Scanners, Legal Affairs Committee Decides at Second Reading

Yoanna Vodenova, Nelly Zheleva

Sitting of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, January 15, 2026 (BTA Photo/Minko Chernev)

Sofia,

15.01.2026 20:26

(BTA)

The Council of Ministers will oversee the storage of ballot scanners, the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs decided on Thursday at second reading as it began debating a consolidated bill amending the Election Code.

Under the adopted texts, the Central Election Commission (CEC), in coordination with the Council of Ministers, will set the terms and procedures for the production, delivery and storage of election documents and materials. The Council of Ministers will control the storage of the optical ballot-scanning devices, while the CEC will oversee the production, delivery and storage of election documents and materials.

The decision was adopted with 11 votes in favour from MPs from GERB-UDF, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning, There Is Such a People (TISP) and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - United Left, and 5 votes against from the MPs of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Vazrazhdane, the Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) party, and Velichie.

Nadejda Iordanova of CC-DB voiced concerns that the changes could lead to paper-only voting at the next elections with exclusively manual counting. She argued that sourcing the ballot scanners within the next two months would be impossible and warned of potential risks to ballot secrecy.

Legal Affairs Committee Chair Anna Aleksandrova of GERB-UDF said that if the Council of Ministers is unable to implement the provisions for the upcoming elections, voting would remain as currently regulated.

CEC representative Tsvetozar Tomov said the CEC should retain its control functions related to the certification of voting machines.

Nikoleta Kuzmanova of TISP urged against suggestions that ballot scanners would compromise ballot secrecy, noting that the idea of using such devices to count votes originated in a bill introduced by CC-DB.

At the beginning of the sitting, CC-DB withdrew its proposal from 2025 for counting centres and optical devices to scan paper ballots, as well as devices for scanning identity documents. Iordanova explained that their withdrawal is due to the fact that the proposed amendments are not feasible in the two-month time frame before the upcoming early elections.

MP Stoyu Stoev noted that their proposal was made in January 2025, when elections were not foreseen in the near future.

/RD/