23 parties will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections on July 11th, 7 fewer than on April 4th.
What is new about these elections is that in the large sections with more than 300 voters, voting will be done only with machines. A vote with a paper ballot will be allowed only in case of technical problems and force majeure circumstances. For the first time, in the polling stations with 300 or more voters abroad, only machine voting will take place, with the record 782 polling stations abroad.
Bulgarians who are on holiday in Bulgaria will not be able to vote unless they are registered at the current address of the place where they are resting or are not observers or members of a sectional election commission at the respective place.
There will be no restriction for holidaymakers abroad, and it will be possible to vote in any section only with an identity document and without a previously submitted application.
In these elections as well, those quarantined due to the coronavirus will be able to vote with mobile ballot boxes, and on election day members of DECs and PECs will go to the addresses. This time, applications for voting in the mobile section will be submitted on election day itself.
Machine voting is one of the main concerns of voters. Its advantage is that it eliminates invalid ballots, ie. there is no way to make a mistake when marking the vote. In machine voting, the ballot is displayed on the screen after a card is inserted in the device. The voter marks his vote by touch, and in addition to the preferred party or coalition, he may also mark a preference for a candidate from the list. Finally, the machine prints a voting receipt, which is placed in a separate ballot box. The indication of preference is optional. It represents a vote for a certain candidate from the list of the preferred political formation. The numbers of parties and coalitions range from one to 100, and the numbers of candidates who can be voted for by preference start from 101. The preferential vote may rearrange the lists if at least 7% of those who voted for the respective party voted for a given candidate. .
With a paper ballot, voting will take place in small polling stations with less than 300 voters, as well as in mobile ballot boxing, in polling stations in hospitals, old people’s homes and other specialized institutions for the provision of social services. Bulletins will also be available in the large sections, but they will only be used for technical problems.
The results of the elections must be announced by the Central Election Commission by July 15 for parliamentary seats, and the names of the MPs must be clear by July 18.
