More than 42 000 Bulgarians have registered as candidates for mayors and municipal councillors and will contest the forthcoming local elections which are scheduled to take place on October 25.

The figures were announced by the Central Election Commission (CIK) on Thursday, private bTV station informs.

The number of candidates equals the population of a town with the size of Montana.

Slightly less than 35 000 Bulgarians will run for municipal councillors.

The candidates for mayors of large municipalities are 1600, while those for small municipalities exceed 10 000.

Since the same person is allowed to run simultaneously as a mayor and municipal councillor, the numbers should not be added up.

The local elections will be held simultaneously with a referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting.

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

The electoral campaign was launched exactly one month before the date of the elections – September 25 and will last until midnight on October 23.

A total of 71 parties and three coalitions were registered for participation in the local elections, while thirty parties, one coalition and eight initiative committees will take part in the information campaign on the referendum.