The Foreign Ministry has invited international observers to the national referendum
21 December 2012 News
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria to the OSCE, has sent an invitation to the OSCE Office for Democratic Elections and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the member states to monitor the forthcoming January 27 2013 referendum. In line with current practice, the invitation was announced at a December 20 2012 meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.
At the request of these institutions, as well as that of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Foreign Ministry will propose that the Central Election Commission registers them as observers of the forthcoming election.
Bulgarian citizens who want to vote abroad will be able to apply to do so at our foreign missions, including during the holidays. To this end, Bulgaria’s embassies and consulates will organise special post boxes or arrange that personnel at the missions do duty shifts.
The deadline for applications to vote abroad is January 1 2013.
We remind you that for a polling station to be opened, there must be at least 20 valid applications to vote submitted in a locality.
Full information about voting abroad in the national referendum and the form to apply to vote abroad may be found on the website of the Foreign Ministry.
In the upcoming national referendum on January 27 2013, on the question “Should nuclear energy be developed in Bulgaria through the construction of a new nuclear power station?” Bulgarian citizens abroad can vote only at Bulgarian embassies and consulates.
On the application form, the following must be stated: the voter’s first, middle and last names as recorded in the passport, citizen number, residential address in the relevant country, permanent address in Bulgaria and the location where he or she wants to vote.
The application must be signed by hand and submitted in one of the following ways – in person, at the embassy or consulate; by post, with a postmark before January 1 2013; or by e-mail in PDF or TIFF format. A sample application along with the addresses of Bulgarian missions abroad can be found on the Foreign Ministry website.
Citizens can check their addresses for voting at the site of the Civil Registration and Administrative Services Directorate-General. A change resulting from an application being submitted to vote abroad would be recorded after January 11 2013 when the data will be submitted to the Civil Registration and Administrative Services Directorate-General.