site.btaUPDATED Voter Turnout at 4 PM: 20.44% for National Assembly, 20.89% for European Parliament

The voter turnout at the June 9 elections as at 4 pm stood at 20.44% for National Assembly and 20.89% for European Parliament, Central Election Commission Spokesperson Rositsa Mateva told journalists on Sunday. Election day started on time and the voting proceeds normally in all polling stations, she said.

As at 4 pm, the lowest voter turnout in the snap general elections was recorded in Sliven, 15.4% and the highest in Smolyan, 27.09%. In the European Parliament elections, the lowest voter turnout was registered in Sliven, 14.86% and the highest in Kardzhali, 28.57%. In comparison, the previous parliamentary elections, held on April 2, 2023, had a voter turnout of 27.27% as at 4 pm, Mateva recalled.

At a previous news briefing on Sunday, Mateva said that there have been problems with the voting machines in some places, but the Central Election Commission has given instructions on how to proceed. There have been alerts about problems with the voting slip issued by the machines: the slip is not printed fully to display the voter's choice, or the slip is entirely blank. In such cases, people can vote with paper ballots, provided they have not already signed and left the polling site. The corresponding election commission has to write a protocol describing what has occurred, Mateva explained.

There have been cases where people say they selected to vote in both elections on the machine's screen but then the machine printed a slip for one of the elections only. This circumstance cannot be checked but these people are allowed to vote by paper ballot. A protocol on the what has occurred must be written, Mateva specified.

As at noon, there were 42 voting machines on which voting had been discontinued, two of which abroad (in Zurich and Tekirdag, Turkiye).