Voting machine

Election authorities in Bulgaria are not to decide until Saturday on whether voting machines will be commissioned for the snap poll due in a month.

The final say is expected a day into the election campaign, after the Central Election Commission (CEC) said needed more time than the initial deadline on Friday as it was waiting for a report by a special subcommission.

On Thursday, the Central Election Commission must approve the technical model and the protection of the ballot for the snap parliamentary elections which will be held on March 26.

Thursday is also the deadline for mayors of municipalities to present to District Election Commissions a proposal for the composition of Section Voting Commissions.

So far, not a single firm has submitted documents for the delivery of machines for electronic voting after the announcement of the public procurement order.

There are not enough indications Bulgaria could obtain the necessary number of voting machines in time for the early election in March, the government says.

The cabinet's spokesperson Irina Belcheva has said a study carried out by the government shows it is "almost impossible" to hold talks on acquiring machines on such a short notice.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bulgaria is not considering the option that there will be no machine voting in the early election due in less than six weeks.

In an interview with Focus Radio, its spokesperson Aleksandar Andreev has rejected claims that it was late in responding to the lack of machines.

Bulgaria's interim Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdzhikov said on Saturday he was confident the results of the snap election due in Marrch would be contested.

The vote would be challenged regardless of whether machine voting would be successfully implemented or there would be only paper ballots, he argued during a visit to the Bulgarian-Greek border.

The Central Election Commission has announced a public procurement order for 12,500 machines for electronic voting for the snap parliamentary elections on March 26.

The decision was published on the website of the commission at 22:00 hrs on Friday.

The Central Election Commission has decided to announce a public procurement order for the renting of electronic voting machines and not for the purchase of such devices.

The order includes additional machines in case of technical failure.

Electronic voting has to take place in all voting sections in Bulgaria and abroad.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) amended late on Friday night its decision on electronic voting machines by writing that during the elections on March 26 there will be electronic voting in all voting sections.

The Public Council to Bulgaria's electoral body, the Central Electoral Commission, or CIK, on Thursday said the future of electronic voting in Bulgaria must be determined after thorough analyses and public debate.