site.btaCentral Election Commission Adopts Time Schedule for October 27 Local Elections

115 POLITICS-UPCOMING LOCAL ELECTIONS-ARRANGEMENTS

Central Election Commission
Adopts Time Schedule for
October 27 Local Elections


July 23 (BTA) - The Central Election Commission (CEC) published Tuesday a schedule for the October 27 local elections in Bulgaria, CEC Chairperson Stefka Stoeva said. Stoeva participated in a national meeting of local powers which took stock of the organization of the May 26 European Parliament elections in Bulgaria and the planning of the upcoming local elections.

Registration of the parties and coalitions nominating runners in the local elections is to be completed by September 11. The draw for the ballot paper numbers is to take place by September 25. By the end of August, CEC needs to have passed all organizational decisions and ballot paper designs for the elections. The municipal election commissions will need to be appointed by September 6.

The Executive Director of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria, Sylvia Georgieva, who attended the meeting, said that the voting with at least four ballot papers and preferential voting will certainly prove a challenge. Mayors of 1,965 population centres will be elected at the October 27 voting.

In respect of machine voting, which created difficulties at the European elections and which is likely to be scrapped for local and parliamentary elections, Stoeva said that CEC is working on it since the provisions are not yet revoked and the amended Election Code is not yet passed and gazetted. IG/ZH//