Sofia: The process of Registration of political parties ended in Bulgaria today March 27 at 6pm for parliamentary elections to be held on May 12. Political parties have more four days to register as coalitions as deadline for such registration is fixed as April 1, 2013.
More than more than 50 parties have lodged applications at the Central Election Commission. Parties that have got registration include Boiko Borissov’s centre-right GERB party, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms led by Lyutvi Mestan, Volen Siderov’s ultra-nationalist Ataka party, the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces and Yane Yanev’s Order Law and Justice party – parties all represented in the 41st National Assembly although in some cases prospects of entry to the 42nd currently are unclear.
The official election campaign period will begin on April 12 and continue until midnight on May 10. May 11 is a “day of contemplation” on which campaigning is forbidden, and also will be an official non-working day.
Polling stations will be open on May 12 from 7am to 8pm. Where voting is held abroad, the hours will be the same, but according to local time.
Bulgarian schools used as polling stations will be closed on May 12 and May 13. The process of checking the validity of the signatures appended to applications for registration will continue until March 30. Parties require 7000 valid signatures to register. In the cases of some parties, notably GERB, the socialists and Meglena Kouneva’s Bulgaria for Citizens, this number has been vastly exceeded. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will send more than 240 international observers to Bulgaria for the May 12 elections.
