A total of 185,000 Bulgarians, who live in Turkey, have been scratched off the voting lists for the May 20 MEP elections in the Balkan country.

All these people will not be allowed to the polling stations, because of the new law the government accepted for the elections. It states that only Bulgarian nationals who have lived in the county or in a EU member state in the three months prior to the election will be allowed to cast their vote.

The total number of Bulgarians who will be denied access to the polls is 233,000, bTV reported, citing official sources. Once the polling lists have been cleared, even if some of these people are in Bulgaria on May 20, they wouldn't be able to vote.

The MEP voting law caused scandals in the ruling three-way coalition as it passed with the votes of centrists Simeon II National Movement. Their involvement left some 185,000 of the core voters of coalition partner - the ethnic Turkish party Movements for Rights and Freedoms.

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