site.btaReplacing Election Commissioners to Be as Limited as Possible, CEC Spokesperson Says

The possibility of replacements of election commissioners will be limited as much as possible, Central Election Commission (CEC) spokesperson Rositsa Mateva told the Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday.

She pointed out that the election commissioners have already been appointed, with the deadline having been March 24, and that requests for replacements from parliamentary represented parties and coalitions are still being submitted. “This time we are all unanimous that replacements will be carried out only and exclusively in situations where the requirements of the Electoral Code are met,” Mateva said. She added that if a member of a district election commission withdraws, the constituency election commission must be provided with a written request for their removal – with their name handwritten and personally signed.

Mateva said that constituency election commissioners will train district polling officers between Palm Sunday and Easter or after Easter, immediately before the elections, in order to achieve maximum effect. “We have optimised the section tally sheet, in which the voting results will be entered,” the CEC spokesperson said. The part in which votes for parties and coalitions will be entered resembles the ballot paper so as not to confuse commission members and to make it easier for them, she explained. Mateva added that a mobile application with an electronic protocol is also being developed to verify the correct entry and calculation of results.

Regarding polling districts abroad, the spokesperson said that in the United Kingdom, seven will be opened at the embassy in London for the first time. She explained that following the introduced restriction in the Electoral Code of up to 20 polling districts outside diplomatic and consular missions in countries outside the EU, the idea was to open as many voting sections as the premises allow.

Mateva said that there will be 28 polling districts in the United Kingdom – 20 permitted by law, seven at the Embassy in London and one at the diplomatic mission in Edinburgh. In the United States, there will be 24 stations, four of them in diplomatic and consular missions in Washington, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. In Turkiye, there will be 27 polling districts – 20 in line with the legal limit, three in Ankara, two in Istanbul and one each in Bursa and Edirne, located in consular services and the General Consulate, she specified.

Mateva said that twice as many applications for voting abroad have been submitted for these elections, which, in addition to opening polling districts, also serve to include voters in the electoral rolls. A voter included in the list will not need to fill in a declaration, which will facilitate the process, she explained, expressing hope that this will help avoid delays and crowding in front of polling districts.