Bulgaria votes to elect President and Vice President

Today, 25 October, Bulgarian citizens are voting for president and vice president for a five-year term. A total of 27 candidate pairs, nominated by political parties, coalitions and initiative committees, are competing for voters’ support.

Election campaigning and the publication of opinion poll results related to the vote are prohibited until the official end of election day is announced.

According to the Central Election Commission, around 6.59 million people are eligible to vote, including 46,000 first-time voters. Polling stations open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m.

Machine voting is available at more than three-quarters of polling stations. Paper ballots will be used at polling stations with fewer than 300 eligible voters.

A total of 613 polling stations have been set up in 60 countries for Bulgarians living abroad. The largest numbers are in the United Kingdom (82 polling stations), Türkiye (78 polling stations), and Germany (70 polling stations). Machine voting is available at 242 polling stations abroad.

Video surveillance will be used during ballot counting and the completion of election records to ensure transparency. The Elections 360° app offers an interactive map of polling stations, information about the candidates and the opportunity to track results.

To win in the first round, a candidate pair must secure more than half of the valid votes, provided that voter turnout exceeds 50% of eligible voters. If either of these conditions is not met, a runoff between the two pairs with the highest number of votes will be held on 1 November.

Edited by Miglena Ivanova

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov