October 26 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday amended parts of the Electoral Code related to the number of polling stations to be opened abroad, and the treatment of the votes which do not support any of the candidates, public TV broadcaster BNT reported.
The cap of 35 polling stations, in which Bulgarian passport holders can vote in a foreign country, was scrapped for EU-member states but will remain in force for the non-EU countries, BNT said on its website.
The parliament also decided that the number of those voters who opt to support none of the candidates listed on the ballot paper by ticking the respective box will be included in the total number of ballots cast in presidential or local elections but not in general elections.
Bulgaria will hold presidential elections on November 6.
Simultaneously with the presidential elections, Bulgarians will vote in a referendum on changes to the country's voting system.
The referendum will ask voters three questions: if they support electing the members of parliament through a majoritarian voting system with absolute majority in two rounds; if they support the introduction of compulsory voting in elections and referenda; and if they support cutting the state subsidy for political parties and coalitions to 1 lev ($0.57/0.510 euro) per valid vote in the latest parliamentary elections. The national referendum was initiated by television talk show host Slavi Trifonov.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)