Bulgaria to use diplomatic cargo for overseas voting machines

Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CEC) has decided that voting machines for the upcoming presidential elections on October 25, 2026, will be transported abroad as diplomatic cargo. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will manage the logistics, following a model used in previous election cycles. The machines will be moved from a storage warehouse in Sofia, secured in sealed transport cases, and sent to various diplomatic and consular missions.

To ensure transparency during the certification process, the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transformation announced that the identification numbers for the machines will be selected through a public draw. This procedure will be conducted in the presence of the Minister of Innovation and Digital Transformation, representatives from the CEC, the Bulgarian Institute for Standardization, and the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology, as well as representatives from registered political parties and initiative committees.