The electoral campaign for the forthcoming local elections and the referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting officially begins in Bulgaria on Friday.

The local elections and referendum will be held exactly a month later – on October 25.

The campaign will last until midnight on October 23 and after that agitation will be prohibited until the end of the election day on October 25.

The main participants in the elections promise a tolerant campaign with a genuine debate on policies, with most of them relying on a face-to-face agitation.

The party leaders will tour the country in order to express support for their local candidates.

Prime Minister Boyko Borisov promised that he and his ministers will not take part in the agitation, daily Dnevnik reminds.

The publication and broadcast of anonymous materials related to the campaign is prohibited during the agitation period.

When broadcasting paid agitation materials, media have to clearly point this out.

The campaign is held in the Bulgarian language.

A total of 71 parties and three coalitions were registered for participation in the local elections.

Agitation materials – posters, billboards, video clips have to feature a message that vote buying constitutes a crime.

Political messages are prohibited in commercial advertisements.

The parties do not foresee the holding of national election campaigns, so candidates will agitate locally.

Bulgarians residing in the country will be able to vote both in the local elections and the referendum, while those living abroad will vote only in the latter.

Thirty parties, one coalition and eight initiative committees will take part in the information campaign of the referendum, with 24 of the parties, the coalition and three of the initiative campaigns to promote the “yes” campaign.

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