Bulgaria Votes: 19 Parties, 9 Coalitions, and One Independent Candidate Compete in October 27 Parliamentary Elections

On October 27, Bulgarians will vote in parliamentary elections with 19 parties, nine coalitions, and one independent candidate from Pleven on the ballot.

A total of 6,601,262 citizens are eligible to vote in the seventh parliamentary election in just three years, according to official registers by the Civil Registration and Administrative Services (GRAO).

Across Bulgaria, 12,879 polling stations are set up, including 293 mobile stations and 209 in hospitals. Abroad, there are 719 polling stations to accommodate voters outside the country.

The largest number of foreign polling stations are located in Turkey, with 168, followed by the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland with 112, and Germany with 66.

Voters will have the option of using either paper ballots or voting machines in stations with over 300 registered voters. Within Bulgaria, 9,353 polling stations will offer machine voting, while abroad, 157 stations are similarly equipped. None will have more than one machine.

In total, 4,855 candidates are competing for seats in parliament, comprising 1,377 women and 3,478 men. An additional 1,176 candidates are running in two electoral districts, bringing the total number of candidacies to 6,031.

For the election, there are 77,764 commission members across Bulgaria and 4,076 stationed internationally.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has issued over 850 temporary ID certificates for expired IDs, while more than 15,000 police officers will maintain order on election day.

Organized by the second caretaker government of Dimitar Glavchev, appointed by President Rumen Radev under new constitutional rules, these early elections follow recent amendments to the country's election laws.