The Bulgarian Parliament approved amendments to the Electoral Code that remove restrictions on opening polling stations in countries outside the European Union, with the changes passing their second reading in the plenary hall with 151 votes in favor, 36 against and one abstention.
The adopted amendments remove the current limit on the number of sections that can be opened outside the EU. The changes also introduce new rules requiring voters in certain cases to complete and sign declarations in front of members of the sectional election commission rather than filling them out in advance.
The decision-making procedure in the Central Election Commission (CEC) is also being changed. CEC decisions will now require the support of more than half of its members, instead of the previous two-thirds majority. A new training unit within the commission will also be created to prepare election officials, produce explanatory materials and maintain a public register of trained people.
The amendments also clarify the powers of the CEC chairperson. The debate on the changes lasted around three hours in Parliament.
One of the issues discussed was a proposal by MP Stoyu Stoev from "We Continue the Change" to lower the threshold for mandatory machine voting from 300 to 100 voters in polling stations. He argued that this would give more citizens equal access to machine voting.
