The Bulgarian Council of Ministers called on the Central Election Commission (CIK) to seal off the Arena Armeec sports hall in Sofia where the ballot papers from Sunday's local elections and referendum are being processed and place it under guard so people do not have to wait for handing in the documents.

The government notes that there is an opportunity to process the ballot papers stage by stage and the representatives of the municipal election commissions to be called one after the other.

Without challenging the impartiality of CIK, the government calls for a humane attitude and is committed to providing the necessary assistance in guarding the ballot papers and taking care of the people.

Meanwhile, the situation in the sports hall remains tense with several people having fainted as they did not stand the pressure.

People who have already managed to hand in their ballot papers inform about the lack of water and food in the hall.

Inscriptions reading “SOS”, "Help", “Hostages” can be seen on the outside of the hall with people protesting that they are being forced to stay in the sports hall until the ballot papers are being processed.

Earlier on Monday, media reports claimed that a woman had died, but later the emergency medical service dismissed the information.

Similar problems with the processing of the ballot papers are being experienced in the city of Haskovo.