Bulgaria's Election Officials Rule Out Machine Voting Could Fall Through

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Bulgaria is not considering the option that there will be no machine voting in the early election due in less than six weeks.

In an interview with Focus Radio, its spokesperson Aleksandar Andreev has rejected claims that it was late in responding to the lack of machines.

The snap vote is due on March 26. Voting machines will have to be installed in each one of the 12 500 polling stations under a new law, whereas Bulgaria has only 500 at hand.

The CEC made the announcement once an election date was set by President Rumen Radev, which happened late in January.

Over the weekend, the commission announced it was launching a tender to obtain the machines.

Andreev has told Focus Radio they will be rented, rather than purchased, citing security and logistics issues that would arise if they were to be bought.

"What we have stated as a position is that whether or not there will be machine voting, the fact alone cannot lead to illegality of the vote," he has added.

In the event of there not being enough voting machines, one can still vote with a paper ballot, Andreev has said.