Bulgarians Abroad Not To Be Able To Mark Preferences on Ballots in Snap Elections

Bulgarians who will vote in the country in the snap parliamentary elections on March 26 will be able to note their preference for a candidate for parliamentary deputy on the list of the preferred political formation but Bulgarians voting abroad will not be able to do so.

The reason is that Bulgaria is divided into 31 multi-mandate constituencies and political formations offer a different candidate deputies list in each single constituency from which people choose. Since there is no constituency "abroad", the votes of Bulgarians there will be divided among the lists of the elected formations.

Bulgarians abroad will not be able to vote for independent candidates either because, according to the Electoral Code, these independent candidates are fighting for a seat in Parliament from a particular constituency in Bulgaria.

These are the differences between the integral ballots with which people with vote in Bulgaria and abroad. The Central Election Commission (CEC) presented their samples on Thursday.

On the left side of the ballot there are squares numbered from 1 to 21 and the names of the parties and coalitions which have registered candidate lists. There is also an option "I do not support anyone" since voting is officially compulsory, in spite of the fact that, on Thursday, the Constitutional Court abolished the sanctions for not voting.

According to the latest amendments to the Electoral Code, in parliamentary elections, the "protest vote" is considered as voting activity but not counted when determining the end results.