There will be 465 polling stations abroad for the April 4 general elections, the spokesperson of Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission (CEC), Tanya Tsaneva, said at a briefing on March 25. Last week, the commission appointed the members of the sectional election commissions outside the country.

CEC has also adopted methodological guidelines for the Regional Election Commissions and Sectional Election Commissions. A decision has also been made on the recommended way to fold the paper ballot, Tanya Tsaneva said.

"Trainings are currently being conducted for the Regional Election Commissions, after which they will train the Sectional Election Commissions. The trainings will be conducted online. CEC prepared training materials with the relevant slides, as well as the methodological guidelines. Where there will be no opportunity for online training, as some members do not use a computer or smart phone, trainings will be held in very small groups under strict compliance with the anti-epidemic measures. Representatives of the company that supplies the voting machines will also be present at the trainings,” Tsaneva explained.

The dispatch of the paper ballots from one of the printing houses started today.

"Paper ballots are on the way to the polling stations abroad, some have already arrived in many places. They had to be printed earlier due to the Covid measures. From tomorrow, BNB printing house will start dispatching to various districts," explained Tanya Tsaneva.

The distribution of paper ballots will continue until March 30.

So far, 4 polling agencies and 22 observation structures with a total of 1,835 observers have registered with the CEC, she told the briefing.

"The registration continues until the day before the elections, so there is still time. For polling agencies, the final day for registration is March 27," Tsaneva explained.