Sarnitsa

A total of 48 workers from a workshop in the town of Dospat in southern Bulgaria have tested positive for coronavirus infection, according to updated data from the Regional Health Inspectorate.

Nebi Bozov is to become the first mayor of Sarnitsa, Bulgaria's newest municipality, after a Sunday runoff vote results, electoral officials have now confirmed.

Sunday's election produced just a mayor of the southwestern municipality, with municipal councilor picked by voters back in the first round.

Nebi Bozov, supported by the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party has claimed victory in the first-ever elections of Sarnitsa, the newest administrative unit in Bulgaria.

Officials have confirmed, warning their data is not yet final, but results are unlikely to change much.

A run-off local vote is taking place in Sarnitsa, a southwestern Bulgarian municipality that was formed as a separate unit this year.

The leader of the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) Lyutvi Mestan demanded a full monitoring by the OSCE and PACE of the forthcoming local elections in Bulgaria in the autumn.

Mestan accused the two main ruling parties - GERB and the Reformist Bloc (RB) of exerting brutal pressure on voters in the municipality of Sarnitsa.

The southwestern Bulgarian municipality of Sarnitsa is holding its first local elections.

The early local elections are organized due to the establishment of Sarnitsa as a separate municipality.

Voter turnout on Sunday morning was still low, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

The regions of Smolyan and Kardzhali, as well as the municipalities of Ivaylovgrad Laki, Batak, Sarnitsa, Velingrad, Haskovo and Galabovo remain in a state of emergency over the heavy rains and snowstorms in Bulgaria.

Close to 538 locations across the country had no electricity, as announced by the Interior Ministry's Press Office.