Bulgarians cast ballots for local authorities, referendum on e-voting

Bulgarian voters went to the polls on Sunday to cast ballots for local authorities, and for approval or rejection of possibility of electronic voting in future elections and referendums.

A total of 12,314 polling stations across the country opened at 6:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT). A total of 6,363,238 eligible voters were to vote for mayors and municipal councilors from 42,702 candidates.

In addition, 523 nationals of European Union countries have declared that they wanted to vote in the elections, held every four years, Bulgaria's Central Election Commission has said.

In total, 58 percent of the Bulgarians have said they would vote in the local elections, according to a recent survey conducted by the Alpha Research Agency.

Meanwhile, 6,885,893 Bulgarians are eligible to participate in a referendum by answering the question: "Do you support the idea that people will have the right to vote from distance online when elections and referendums are held?"

The difference in the number of voters comes from the regulation that only citizens who have permanent and current addresses registered in Bulgaria can vote in the local elections.

According to the Alpha Research Agency, 49 percent of those living in Bulgaria intended to participate in the referendum, and 77 percent of them approved the possibility of electronic voting.

The referendum was initiated by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev who said there are quite a lot of benefits of distance online voting.

"I am convinced that the Bulgarian voters will be able to vote online in the near future -- we should offer this option on time. Thus more than 1.5 million Bulgarians abroad will be able to contribute to the future of our homeland," Plevneliev said. Endi