The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs has approved, at second reading, a provision allowing up to 20 polling stations to be opened outside Bulgarian diplomatic and consular missions in countries outside the European Union. The decision was taken during the debate on a consolidated set of amendments to the Election Code, following a proposal submitted by the Revival parliamentary group.

According to Nadezhda Yordanova, of We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB), the approved limitation effectively restricts the voting rights of Bulgarian citizens living in non-EU countries, as it narrows the opportunities for them to cast a ballot.

During the same session, the committee rejected a separate proposal by Vazrazhdane that would have allowed only one electronic application for voting abroad to be submitted from a single IP address via the Central Election Commission website. A counterproposal from WCC-DB, which suggested a cap of four electronic applications per IP address, was also voted down.

The adopted amendments assign responsibility for printing ballot papers and overseeing related procedures to the Central Election Commission. Under the new rules, the Council of Ministers will coordinate the work of the executive authorities in ensuring the logistical and technical preparation of elections, including the readiness of optical devices used to scan paper ballots. These devices will be stored under procedures defined by a decision of the Council of Ministers.

Meanwhile, Maya Dimitrova, deputy floor leader of BSP, announced that her parliamentary group intends to propose delaying the introduction of optical scanning devices until January 1, 2027.