LONG BALLOTS
There will not be a problem with the unusually long voting ballots, Nikolai Vassilev, State Administration Minister told Bulgarian National Radio on September 27. The October 28 municipal elections will be the first ones where voters will be able to choose municipal councillors as well as the mayors themselves. This means that the names of all candidates must be on the ballot, which in some cases will make the ballot up to two m long. Because of this fears appeared that the printing houses will not cope with the production schedule for technical reasons. “Indeed the number of the printing houses in the country that can print the long ballots is small but we will take all measures to secure the number of ballots needed in each municipality,” Vassilev said.

CAREFUL
On October 2 the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) cancelled a decision of the municipal electoral commission in Vidin, north-western Bulgaria and obliged it to register the candidates of the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian) led by Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov. The CEC said the municipal commission misinterpreted the Local Elections Act and had no grounds to demand notarised copies of the candidates IDs.

THE BEAUTY OF AN ELECTION
According to Antoaneta Hristova, a psychology expert, the two female candidates for Sofia mayor, Antoania Purvanova from the National Movement for Stability and Progress and Yuliana Doncheva from the Sauz BG coalition, had to double their efforts if they wanted to win the elections. Hristova told Focus news agency that beauty in politics was not an advantage.  

SOFIA NUMBERS
Sofia’s municipal electoral commission have drawn the lots for the numbers that will be used for the different parties and coalitions on the ballot papers. The lots have determined the following: Number one was for the Green Party; Ultra-nationalist Ataka party's candidate Slavi Binev got number five; Right-wing Martin Zaimov will be under number eight; Antonia Purvanova from the National Movement for Stability and Progress will stand under number 14; Brigo Apsarouhov the candidate of Bulgarian Socialist Party will be under number 23; basketball coach Titi Papazov supported by the Democratic Party will be under number 29; Current Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov will have the number 32; Yuliana Doncheva from Sauz BG got number 41.