2-in-1 election if needed, date remains unclear

The National Assembly's presidential council failed to reach a decision on the date of the presidential and possible early parliamentary elections. The reason is a problem with the voting machines, which was announced by CEC chair Kamelia Neykova.

However, the political forces have reached a "principle agreement" for a 2-in-1 election if another early parliamentary vote was needed. "In a difficult Covid situation, people needing to go to the polls for three weeks in a row would lead to low voter turnout," BSP leader Korneliya Ninova said. According to the chair of the parliamentary group of GERB-SDS, Desislava Atanasova, the possible dates discussed are November 7 or 14.

"If we have both presidential and parliamentary elections, voting must be done using one machine," Rositsa Mateva, a CEC spokeswoman, has told BNR./BGNES