Legal Committee to Discuss All-Machine Voting and Lifting of Restriction on Polling Stations Outside EU.

The legal affairs committee in the National Assembly will discuss proposals for major changes to the Election Code, including the introduction of fully machine-based voting in most polling stations across the country.

One of the proposals submitted by the ruling Progressive Bulgaria provides for paper ballots to be abolished, with machine voting becoming the main way to cast a vote.

The draft provides for fully machine-based voting, with the exception of polling stations with fewer than 300 voters. In those sections, the option to vote with a paper ballot will remain for organisational and technical reasons.

Exceptions will also apply to mobile polling stations, polling stations in medical facilities, nursing homes and other specialised institutions, as well as vessels under the Bulgarian flag located outside the country.

In addition to the proposals from Progressive Bulgaria, members of the legal affairs committee will also consider other amendments to the Election Code submitted by the parliamentary groups of WCC, DB, DPS and Vazrazhdane.

Among the other proposals is the removal of the limit on opening a maximum of 20 polling stations outside diplomatic and consular missions in countries outside the European Union.

The restriction was introduced before the early parliamentary elections in April, but drew serious criticism from Bulgarian communities abroad.

In the last parliamentary vote, this restriction led to long queues outside polling stations in Turkey and the United Kingdom. In a number of locations, thousands of Bulgarian citizens waited for hours to exercise their right to vote, once again raising the issue of access to the electoral process outside the country.