Bulgarians go to the polls (update)

On June 9, 2024, Bulgaria simultaneously holds European Parliament elections, in which the country will elect 17 MEPs and early general elections to elect members of the 240-seated national Parliament.

The polling day in Bulgaria starts at 07:00 and will run until 20:00. The law provides for extension of the voting time by an hour (until 21:00) if there is a queue outside the polling station.

More than 6 million and 100,000 people are eligible to vote in the European Parliament elections and more than 6 and a half million for the national Parliament. The difference between the two types of lists is the residency requirement.

Voting will take place in 12,898 polling stations across the country on 9 June. Voting machines will be available in 9,346 polling stations. There will be 322 mobile polling stations.

Each voter has a choice of voting using either a voting machine or paper ballots. The ballot papers are in different colours, to distinguish between the National Assembly and European Parliament vote.

There will be CCTV and video recording at 11,635 polling stations.

There are 769 polling stations abroad in 60 countries. Of those, 245 will have machines. The largest number of polling stations aborad is in Turkey.

6,100 candidates will take part in the race for the 240 seat in Bulgaria’s Parliament (1,826 are women, 4,274 are men).

There are 418 candidates in the European Parliament elections - 131 women and 287 men. 332 are candidates in both elections.