Bulgarians in New Zealand are the first to vote for the new parliament

The Bulgarians in Auckland, New Zealand were the first to cast their vote in the early parliamentary elections, Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry announced. Because of the time difference, the polling station there opened its doors last night at 9:00 p.m. Bulgarian time.

Bulgarians on the West Coast of the USA and Canada will be the last to vote for the 51st National Assembly - the election day for them will end on Monday at 5:00 a.m. Bulgarian time.

Bulgarians abroad have at their disposal 719 polling stations in 57 countries. The most polling stations have opened in Turkey – 168, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – 112, Germany – 66, Spain – 64, USA – 53, Italy – 27, Netherlands – 25, Greece – 23, France – 17, Austria and Belgium each 16, Canada – 15 polling stations.

Machine voting is provided in 157 polling stations - 79 devices have been delivered to Turkey, 21 to Germany, 14 to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 6 each to Spain and the USA, 5 each to Austria and Greece, 4 to the Netherlands, 3 each in France and Belgium, 2 each in Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, 1 each in Luxembourg, Norway and Serbia.

Bulgaria's diplomatic and consular representations maintain contact with the local authorities and are ready to react in case of difficulties in order to guarantee the right to vote of Bulgarian citizens, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out.