Communication
We celebrate the Global Election Day on February 4th, 2016 for the 11th consecutive year.
The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria congratulates its international partners - the election management bodies around the world, and all international organizations involved in the organization and conducting and/or monitoring elections, and the citizens. We wish you peace and prosperity.
The Central Election Commission uses this occasion to once again express its thanks to all the participants in the electoral process in Bulgaria - members of regional, local and polling station election commissions, Council of Ministers and its administration, Ministry of Regional Development, in particular Directorate General "Civil Registration and Administrative Services" (DG CRAS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Finance, Bulgarian National Audit Office, the Council of Electronic Media, the management and the employees of the Printing Works of the Bulgarian National Bank and other specialized printing works, district governors, mayors, district and municipal administrations and other bodies involved in the organization and conduct of elections, the management and the employees of "Information Services"AD, the Public Council at CEC, other non-governmental organizations, media, all partners, employees and CEC contributors for their efforts in the organization and conducting of legitimate elections and for respecting the rights and freedoms of citizens.
The decision to celebrate the Global Election Day every first Thursday in February was taken in 2005 at an international conference of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO) held in Hungary. The aim of the Association is to provide a forum for exchange of information and best practices between election management bodies. The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria is one of the first members of ACEEEO (1991) and is an active partner in joint events, delivering presentations, submitting reports and opinions. The focus of events organized is different - from ensuring the transparency of the electoral process, the role and participation of the media, electoral technologies, and financial reforms, equality of women, minority groups and disadvantaged persons, to the active participation of all citizens in the electoral process. ACEEEO unites election management bodies from more than 20 countries and is actively working in cooperation with international organizations to observe the elections, such as: European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and others. Additional information about ACEEEO is available on the official website of the organization: http://www.aceeeo.org/.
In 2016, ACEEEO will celebrate its 25th anniversary. On this occasion, a publication including materials on the development of the electoral systems and the electoral processes in the member-states of the Association will be published and presented at the conference of the Association in Albania in September. CEC Bulgaria is preparing its presentation.
CEC is a member of the Association of World Election Bodies - A-WEB. The association was founded in 2013 in the Republic Korea and it has more than 170 member-states. The Central Election Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria is a founding member. CEC representatives participated in the annual conference of the Association, submitting information on the electoral process in Bulgaria and supported the changes to the Constitutive Act of A-WEB. Additional information about the organization is available on its official website: http://www.aweb.org/eng/main.do.
Members of the Central Election Commission present Bulgarian legislation and practices on other international high level forums. On the 12th Conference of the election management bodies, organized by the Venice Commission and the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Belgium and held in March 2015 in Brussels, representatives of CEC shared their experience in the field of ensuring the publicity and transparency of the activities of the election commissions and joined the Common Declaration on transparency, openness, independence and neutrality of the election management bodies. The activity of the Bulgarian CEC received high praise from the partners.
CEC presented the legislation and practice in Bulgaria regarding the established order and conditions for voting of students and pupils, disabled voters, voters in specialized institutions and homes for elderly people and other at the Fifth Conference of the election management bodies, held in early 2015 in Georgia and at the 24th Conference and General Meeting of ACEEO in September 2015 in Moldova.
CEC members participated remotely in the work of the expert group on electoral issues to the European Commission, whose main objective is the improvement of the legislation of Member States concerning the organization and holding of European Parliamentary elections.
At the invitation of partner countries, CEC Bulgaria participated with observers in elections in order to exchange experience and practices.