site.btaForeign Minister: Organizing Elections Abroad Is Becoming Increasingly Difficult

It is becoming increasingly difficult to organise elections abroad, caretaker Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov said Friday, reporting on the work done by the ministry within the caretaker government. According to Milkov, the latest changes to the Election Code will further complicate the process of organising the upcoming early parliamentary elections on April 2.

Elections are the first priority for any caretaker government. They were organised and held successfully, Milkov said, referring to the October 2 elections, adding that more than 178,000 Bulgarian citizens abroad voted in them.

According to Milkov, there is a trend of a constantly complicating electoral legislation, which introduces new requirements and further details the electoral process every time. "To what extent this is useful and to what extent it creates guarantees for a more successful organisation or greater trust in the electoral process - this will be for the people to judge," he said, adding that it depends on many things, including their level of participation.

Further complications are constantly being added to the way elections are organised abroad, Milkov said. "Tons and tons of material are sent around the world within very short timeframes, because there is a timetable that mandates this to be done in specific periods of time," the minister explained. This generates substantial effort and is a risk to the successful organisation of the elections, Milkov said.