Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Voting in the local elections will use old voting machines

Kamelia Neikova
Photo: BGNES

The Central Election Commission (CEC) has repeatedly proposed to develop new software for the machine voting so that there is no foreign involvement, but has not received a response from any institution. This was announced by CEC chairperson Kamelia Neikova during a parliamentary hearing on the reliability of machine voting. She explained that with the voting software acquired through a contract in 2021, not a single technical decision can be taken without the participation of its creator, Smartmatic International Holding.


The Chairperson of the CEC also said that in the local elections on October 29 this year there will be no new machines and voting will be done with the already purchased nearly 13,000 devices. According to her, they are stored in a private warehouse, because the Council of Ministers did not secure a state one, as required by the Electoral Code.

For the security of machine voting, a number of checks and tests are carried out, in addition, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Security Agency check all people with access to the warehouse where the machines are stored, and will work on their preparation and delivery to the election commission, Kamelia Neikova added.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Ivelin Mihaylov

Bulgaria’s Anti-Corruption Commission probes 'Velichie' party in major property fraud case

Bulgaria’s Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating a large-scale property fraud and money laundering scheme connected to the 'Historical Park', which is associated with Ivelin Mihaylov, the leader of the Velichie party. Those arrested include the..

published on 11/26/25 2:30 PM
Boyko Borissov

Borissov cites EU defence adjustment to claim a 2026 deficit of 2.7%

The ruling party and the opposition argued about the procedure for the Budget Committee meeting before the final vote on the 2006 budget .  Assen Vassilev, chairman of the We Continue the Change party, attempted to block the committee’s extraordinary..

published on 11/26/25 2:15 PM

Agriculture and forestry workers protest for higher salaries

Employees in the agriculture and forestry sector staged a protest in front of the Parliament, demanding higher salaries for workers in departments that are secondary budget administrators. The protest was organized by the National Federation of..

published on 11/26/25 12:34 PM