Bulgaria turnout at 5.8% by noon as 20 voting machines fail
Bulgaria's election commission said 385,092 people had voted by noon. The Interior Ministry logged 193 reports of possible violations by 11 a.m., most of them alleging vote buying.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Turnout in Bulgaria's presidential election stood at 5.8% at noon local time, with 385,092 people having voted, Central Election Commission spokeswoman Stoyanka Balova said. Turnout was highest in the northwestern Vidin region at 8.12% and lowest in Kardzhali at 2.56%.
By noon, 20 voting machines had stopped working nationwide and the affected polling stations switched to paper ballots. Four failed to start in the morning because of printer, card-reader or power problems; Sofia City's 23rd constituency had the most failures, with five. The commission received 13 alerts, while the Interior Ministry said it had logged 193 reports of possible violations by 11 a.m., 160 of them alleging vote buying, and issued 1,259 warning notices.
Polling agencies, whose figures are not directly comparable with the official count, estimated turnout at 13.4% (Trend) and 13.6% (Alpha Research) by 2 p.m. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT). A runoff, if needed, would be held on Nov. 1.