Turnout in Bulgaria Local Vote at Least 43.2%

Voter activity in local elections held in Bulgaria on Sunday was 43.2% as of 16:00 (EET), three hours before polls close, an electoral official has said.

Aleksandar Andreev, spokesperson for the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), told Radio Focus on Monday morning the commission had "no information" about problems with ballot processing, which is done by its municipal subdivisions.

He added no final activity data was available as of the moment. In his words, results of processing should be expected later in cities and bigger towns.

This comes amid reports of chaos in ballot processing at the Sofia municipal commission which is managing voting papers at the Arena Armeec hall.

On Sunday night, a woman died while being taken to hospital after reports of tension over "slow" and "chaotic" ballot processing at the hall.

Commenting on activity in the referendum (Bulgarians also voted on whether e-voting should be introduced as a valid method in elections), Andreev explained the CEC was still waiting for official information.