Fifty-eight percent of Bulgarian voters plan to cast ballots in the local elections on 25 October, a new poll showed on Tuesday.

More than half of those polled are aware of the preferential voting option, i.e. the opportunity to re-arrange the order of candidates on party lists according to their choice, a survey of 1,026 people conducted by Alpha Research polling agency Oct.1-5 showed.

However, just 25% of voters plan to use the option in those elections. Voters living in big cities as well as those having higher standard of living are more receptive to the idea of preferential voting, according to the survey.

About 49% of those polled plan to cast ballots in the national referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting that will be held alongside the local elections. At least 3.5 million people must vote in the referendum to make its results valid.

More than 42,000 Bulgarians have registered to run as candidates for mayors and municipal councillors.