Election Day fell on a working day for Bulgarians in Kuwait

Voting proceeded peacefully, but turnout was very low at the only polling station opened at the Bulgarian Embassy in Kuwait. By 2 p.m. on Sunday, just over 20 Bulgarian nationals had cast their ballots.

“I assume many people are at work, as today is a working day here, and they will come after work,” Milena Baeva, chair of the precinct election commission, told Radio Bulgaria.

“Another thing we should point out is that the Bulgarian community in Kuwait has shrunk considerably. You know the situation in the Gulf, and the Bulgarian community really has become very, very small.”

The situation in the Persian Gulf in March 2026, amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, necessitated the timely evacuation of dozens of Bulgarians from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Those events also prevented a polling station from being opened in Kuwait City for Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections in April 2026. In the presidential election a polling station was operating there, and there is still hope among the few compatriots who remain.

“There is hope that, after all, something depends on us. It is very difficult to believe that your vote can change anything, but the alternative is complete despair. That is why the people who voted today came out to cast their ballots,” Milena Baeva says.

It is difficult to make predictions about turnout in the run-off, Ms Baeva says, acknowledging that voter participation at the polling station in Kuwait is unlikely to change next week.

Read also:

• Niki Collier’s photo documentary of Election Day in Dublin

• Bulgarians in Geneva: Lack of open debate is missed chance in election campaign

• Vladimir Perev from Skopje: A campaign is needed for votersin North Macedonia

• Bulgarians in Kraków vote with great enthusiasm

• Returnee from Czechia: Apathy on election day is surprising

English: R. Petkova