Elections

The Foreign Ministry's decision on establishing the polling stations abroad was based on the analysis of the way the 2009 presidential election unfolded, as well as on the proposals made by the Romanian diplomatic missions, Secretary of State with the Foreign Affairs Ministry Radu Podgorean explained in a release this Saturday to AGERPRES.

Bulgaria looks likely to get yet another unstable, divided government following October 5 snap general election, The Economist has said.

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After being axed as the President's "Chief Analyst" last week, Dejan Jovic is still a hot topic in Croatia following his controversial remarks about the 1991 independence referendum.

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The drastic immigration reduction in Switzerland will isolate the country and will damage its ties with the European Union, left-wing groups said on Monday, urging voters to reject the proposal.

On November 30, Swiss voters will decide in a referendum whether the country should cap immigration to 0.2% of the population or 16,000 people a year.

A coalition of seven unions and seven civil society organizations on Monday launched a petition for a referendum on selling the rights to manage highways to private companies.

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The forthcoming Bulgarian legislature will be the first one in which 95 percent of voters will be represented in Parliament, sociologist Zhivko Georgiev from Gallup agency told the Bulgarian National Television.

Voter activity in the early general poll held in Bulgaria on Sunday stood at about 39.5% of those eligible to vote as of 17:00 EEST, the election watchdog CEC has announced.

The voter turnout in Bulgaria's early elections as of 4 PM is 35.3%, shows a Gallup exit poll, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio.

"Fourty percent of the ballots, cast by that hour were in the regional centres, 20% in the small towns, 26% in the villages and 13% in Sofia," Dimitar Ganev of the agency told the national broadcaster.

A total of 32,598 voters have cast ballots in polling stations abroad in Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections by 2pm Sofia time on Sunday.

According to foreign ministry data, more than half of those voters, 17 197, have cast ballots in Turkey.

Voter turnout in Sunday's early parliamentary elections stood at 23.34% by 1 pm, according to Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

According to the CEC, a total of 1 603 988 Bulgarians cast ballots by 1 pm on Sunday.

In the early elections in May 2013, voter turnout by 1 pm on Election Day stood at 27.47%, according to the watchdog.