Elections

The Bulgarian Armed Forces, the Orthodox Church, the European Union and universities are the only institutions in Bulgaria enjoying "trust of around and more than 50%," a survey has shown.

The representatives survey, conducted by the Open Society Institute - Sofia, shows "the majority of citizens express permanent distrust of the main institutions of representative democracy."

Bulgarians who will vote in the country in the snap parliamentary elections on March 26 will be able to note their preference for a candidate for parliamentary deputy on the list of the preferred political formation but Bulgarians voting abroad will not be able to do so.

Bulgaria's Constitutional court has abolished unanimously compulsory voting, reported Praven Svyat. The decision was adopted with 11 votes "for" since Anastas Anastasov was absent from the meeting on Thursday.

The Central Election Commission has decided to announce a public procurement order for the renting of electronic voting machines and not for the purchase of such devices.

The order includes additional machines in case of technical failure.

Electronic voting has to take place in all voting sections in Bulgaria and abroad.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) amended late on Friday night its decision on electronic voting machines by writing that during the elections on March 26 there will be electronic voting in all voting sections.

The Public Council to Bulgaria's electoral body, the Central Electoral Commission, or CIK, on Thursday said the future of electronic voting in Bulgaria must be determined after thorough analyses and public debate.

Bulgarian authorities will make sure voting machines are available in all polling stations for the early election on March 26, interim Deputy Prime Minister Stefan Yanev has said.

The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled Bulgarian authorities have to make sure electronic voting is enabled in every polling station in the country at the snap election scheduled for the end of March.

The Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office has described the results of a recent referendum on the country's election system as "binding".

The development comes after an intitial ruling by election authorities that the referendum results fall short of the turnout that would make the result mandatory.

A court will sit on Friday to determine whether the referendum held in November on the voting system is binding and whether machine voting should be mandatory for all polling stations.

Voters overwhelmingly backed in November the introduction of a majority electoral system, a drastic cut in party subsidies, and mandatory voting in both elections and referenda.