site.btaUPDATED CEC: Voter Turnout at 13.88% as of 11:00 am

Voter turnout as of 11:00 am at the October 29 local elections was at 13.88%, the Central Election Commission updated on its website. 

Earlier in the day, CEC Spokesperson Rositsa Mateva said at a briefing Sunday at 11:30 am that voter turnout for the whole country as of 11:00 am was at 12.3%. About 25 district elections commissions had not yeat submitted voter turnout data to the CEC. 

The lowest turnout was registered in Plovdiv - 7.25%, and the highest in Bolyarovo Municipality (Southeastern Bulgaria) - 33.94%.

At the local elections in 2019, the voter turnout at 10:00 was 10.43% and at 12:00 - 23.92%, Mateva noted.

At the morning briefing, Mateva said that the election day throughout the country had started normally, and so far it had also proceeded smoothly. Polling stations opened on time everywhere, and where members of the district election commissions did not show up, the municipal commissions appointed backup members, she explained. 

She urged all citizens to go and vote. She appealed to all the candidates and media representatives to let the voters express their vote in peace and the way of voting is already set and not to seek problems. 

Mateva said that the most significant alert received at the CEC was "the concern of some voters" that when voting with multiple ballots, it is possible that if they are placed on top of each other, the black stripe on the back could leave an imprint on the ballot underneath. She advised voters to vote by placing the ballots separately on the table in the screen. The CEC decided and sent instructions to the municipal election commissions that ballots on which traces of the black tape or the CEC seal are found should be counted as a valid vote, Mateva said. 

She pointed out that the instructions will also be published on the CEC website and urged the members of the district commissions to familiarise themselves with them.