A record-high number of Bulgarians, registered in the predominantly ethnic Turkish district of Kardzhali, have been scratched off the voting lists for the May 20 elections.

A total of 85,000 voters will not be allowed to the polling stations, because of a controversial law that the government adopted for the country's first MEP 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 legal provision leaves no more than 151,052 eligible voters in the election district of Kardzhali, which includes seven municipalities in Southern Bulgaria.

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

Unofficial information says the total number of Bulgarians who will be denied access to the polls is 233,000.

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