site.btaUPDATED Number of Overseas Polling Stations to Be Finalized After Application Deadline

The final proposal for the number of polling stations abroad will be submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) once the deadline for submitting applications has passed and after the motivated proposals of the heads of consular and diplomatic missions have been received, the Foreign Ministry’s Boryana Stoynova said at a briefing of the Elections Coordination Council on Monday.

According to her, the proposal regarding polling stations in countries outside the European Union will be carefully refined.

A total of 44,000 applications for overseas voting have been submitted to date, up from 35,000 for the previous elections, said Vanya Nusheva, adviser to the caretaker Prime Minister on electoral matters. 

The deadline for submitting an application expires on March 24. 

More voting sections in diplomatic missions

Following the latest revisions in the Election Code, which slashed the number of voting sections (outside diplomatic representations) in non-EU countries to 20, the Bulgarian authorities are taking action to open additional voting sections inside embassies and consulates. There are no restrictions on the number of polling stations inside diplomatic representations, said Nusheva.

“Some of our buildings do not allow more than one polling station,” Stoynova noted. As examples of such buildings, she cited two places in Turkiye: the consular office in Bursa and the Consulate General in Edirne.

At the Consulate General in Istanbul, there will likely be two polling stations, and at the Embassy in Ankara, three, Stoynova added.

A process is underway to assess where and how many additional stations can be opened, Vanya Nusheva said. She noted that the deadline for submitting applications to vote abroad expires on March 24.