site.btaCandidates for April 4 Bulgarian General Elections Open Campaign

March 5 (BTA) - The campaign for the April 4 general
elections in Bulgaria opens Friday. Thirty political parties and
 coalitions competing for the 240 seats in the legislature will
be campaigning until midnight on April 2. April 3 is a day of
reflection.

The elections were scheduled by a presidential decree on January
 14, 2021.

There are also independent candidates running in some
constituencies.

All candidates will be trying to get the votes of as many of the
 6,732,316 eligible voters as they can. This is the number of
voters according to the  Directorate General Civil Registration
and Administrative Services of the Regional Development and
Public Works Ministry, but it is only tentative and the exact
number will become clear right before the elections, as always.

The candidates are only allowed to use the Bulgarian language
during the campaign and may not use any official position they
have, or state property in their campaign. All canvassing
material should say that vote trading is a crime.

The following parties and coalitions are running for Parliament:

1. VMRO
2. Nie, Grazhdanite [We, the Citizens]
3. Bulgarian National Union - New Democracy
4. Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) for Bulgaria
5. Vuzrazhdane [Revival]
6. ABV
7. Ataka
8. Conservative Alliance of the Right Wing
9. Movement for Rights and Freedoms
10. Bulgarian Progressive Line
11. Democratic Bulgaria
12. Revival of the Fatherland
13. Together for Change Movement
14. Bulgarian National Unity - BNO
15. Nation Party
16. MIR
17. Protesting Citizens
18. Rise Up! Thugs Out!
19. Glas Naroden [The Voice of the People]
20. Movement of Non-Partisan Candidates
21. Republicans for Bulgaria
22. Pravoto [Law] Party
23. Prosperity-Unity-Creation
24. Patriotic Coalition - Volya and National Front for Salvation
 of Bulgaria (NFSB)
25. Party of the Greens
26. Society for New Bulgaria
27. Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy
28. GERB-UDF
29. Ima Takuv Narod [There Is Such a People]
30. Direct Democracy
 
The parties and coalitions are listed here with the number which
 will appear for them on the ballots.

Bulgarians who live abroad can declare their wish to vote and
have a voting section opened in their country of residence. So
far, 63,500 applications have been filed, the vast majority of
them online, and four more days remain for applying before the
March 9 deadline.

So far, the number of applications is largest in Turkey
(15,000), followed by the UK (12,000), Germany (9,500) and the
United States (3,900).

People who have declared an intention to vote abroad can vote in
 an overseas voting location other than the initially chosen one
 - or in Bulgaria, should they choose to return in their home
country.

On March 9, Bulgaria's diplomatic and consular representations
will send the Central Election Commission a reasoned proposal
about the voting locations they want to be opened abroad.

By a decision of Parliament, voting sections with over 300
voters will offer the option of machine voting. Voting machines
may not be used in mobile polling stations as well as in polling
 stations in hospitals, assisted living facilities and other
specialized institutions for social services, on
Bulgarian-flagged ships and abroad.

Voters can check their voting section on the website of the
Directorate General Civil Registration and Administrative
Services.

Quarantined people (who have tested positive for coronavirus or
are contact persons) will vote in mobile voting sections. They
have until the end of March to declare their wish to vote. A
voting section will be opened for quarantined people in a
municipality where at least ten voting applications have been
received. The members of the mobile voting section commissions
will use protective gear, including a disposable coverall,
gloves, helmet and face mask, provided by the municipal
authorities. Voting section commission members have also been
included in the priority groups for COVID vaccines.

The Justice Ministry has until March 19 to draw up a list of
persons serving prison sentences, who will be expunged from the
voter registers.
    
People who want to vote at a location other than the one
designated for them based on their residence address, have until
 March 20 to take out a certificate that they need to do so.

By March 27, the Central Election Commission will register the
polling agencies which will do exit polls on Election Day. RY/LN