Elections

The drastic immigration reduction in Switzerland will isolate the country and will damage its ties with the European Union, left-wing groups said on Monday, urging voters to reject the proposal.

On November 30, Swiss voters will decide in a referendum whether the country should cap immigration to 0.2% of the population or 16,000 people a year.

A coalition of seven unions and seven civil society organizations on Monday launched a petition for a referendum on selling the rights to manage highways to private companies.

...

The forthcoming Bulgarian legislature will be the first one in which 95 percent of voters will be represented in Parliament, sociologist Zhivko Georgiev from Gallup agency told the Bulgarian National Television.

Voter activity in the early general poll held in Bulgaria on Sunday stood at about 39.5% of those eligible to vote as of 17:00 EEST, the election watchdog CEC has announced.

The voter turnout in Bulgaria's early elections as of 4 PM is 35.3%, shows a Gallup exit poll, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio.

"Fourty percent of the ballots, cast by that hour were in the regional centres, 20% in the small towns, 26% in the villages and 13% in Sofia," Dimitar Ganev of the agency told the national broadcaster.

A total of 32,598 voters have cast ballots in polling stations abroad in Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections by 2pm Sofia time on Sunday.

According to foreign ministry data, more than half of those voters, 17 197, have cast ballots in Turkey.

Voter turnout in Sunday's early parliamentary elections stood at 23.34% by 1 pm, according to Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

According to the CEC, a total of 1 603 988 Bulgarians cast ballots by 1 pm on Sunday.

In the early elections in May 2013, voter turnout by 1 pm on Election Day stood at 27.47%, according to the watchdog.

Voter turnout in Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections stood at around 9% by 10 a.m. on Sunday, according to Parvan Simeonov from polling agency Gallup International.

Voter turnout in Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections stood at 2.5% by 8 a.m. on Sunday, according to Dimitar Ganev from polling agency Gallup International.

Ganev told the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) that voter turnout by 8 a.m. on Sunday was similar to that in the European Parliament elections held on May 25.

Bulgarians are voting Sunday in early parliamentary elections.

Polls are open on Election Day from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 pm.

Bulgarians can vote at 11 434 polling stations in Bulgaria and 428 polling stations abroad.