Electronic voting

An unprecedented hack attack to which the Central Election Commission of Bulgaria and several ministries were exposed on local elections day last week will not affect voting results, officials say.

A total of 26,939 Bulgarian nationals have cast ballots in the country's referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia announced on Monday.

Bulgaria held the national referendum alongside local elections on Sunday.

Bulgarians living abroad overwhelmingly voted "yes" in the referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting, which was held simultaneously with the local elections on Sunday.

With 98.3 % of the ballots processed, the figures show that 92.06 % of the votes were in favour of the introduction of remote electronic voting, while only 7.94 % were against.

Voter activity in local elections held in Bulgaria on Sunday was 43.2% as of 16:00 (EET), three hours before polls close, an electoral official has said.

Aleksandar Andreev, spokesperson for the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), told Radio Focus on Monday morning the commission had "no information" about problems with ballot processing, which is done by its municipal subdivisions.

Bulgarian voters have backed in a referendum the introduction of remote online voting with a resounding 70.6% backing the step, a poll by Alpha Research agency shows.

Some 26.6% of the voters have said "No", according to the same poll.

Final results are not to be expected until hours later.

No serious incidents or violations have been reported by Sunday noontime (EET) as Bulgarians are casting ballots in local elections and a referendum on online voting.

Bulgarians are voting in 2015's local elections on Sunday to pick mayors and municipal councilors.

They are also having their say on electronic voting, which some politicians say will not replace "tradiitonal" election methods but will boost activity and encourage turnout all around the globe, with more than 2 million Bulgarians living outside the country.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev urged all voters on Friday to cast ballots in a national referendum on whether to introduce remote electronic voting that will be held alongside local elections on October 25.

President Rosen Plevneliev called on all Bulgarians to vote in the forthcoming referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting, which is scheduled to take place on October 25.

In an interview for private NOVA TV on Wednesday, Plevneliev reminded that he has championed the holding of such referendum in the past three years.

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