Bulgaria: Voting Machines are Back for the Runoff Elections on Sunday!

In the upcoming runoffs of mayoral elections on Sunday, Bulgaria is set to (re)introduce the use of voting machines, following the Central Electoral Commission's (CEC) reception of a certification report signed by the Bulgarian Minister of Electronic Management, Alexander Yolovski, along with the heads of the Bulgarian Institute for Standardization and The Institute of Metrology.

Deputy Chairman of the CEC, Emil Voinov, enthusiastically announced the positive opinion on using voting machines, emphasizing that the certification of the delivered technical devices complies with the requirements of the Election Code. He further emphasized the importance of this decision based on the Administrative Procedure Code, highlighting the protection of particularly significant state and public interests.

The CEC's plan envisions the deployment of voting machines in 5,900 sections featuring mixed voting systems for the second round of mayoral elections.

In parallel, the Central Electoral Commission has reported receiving numerous complaints regarding violations in Electoral Commission (CEC) procedures, including non-compliance with methodological instructions for ballot counting, protocol completion, and preference reflection. Elka Stoyanova, a member of the commission, explained that while the CEC acknowledges these issues, they lack the authority to rule on them and can only consider them when formulating guidelines for future elections. According to the Election Code, the Administrative Court holds the competence to address such matters.