Hristijan Mickoski, the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, told a government press conference on Sunday he expects Bulgarian citizens to choose “a clearly pro-European and good-neighbourly oriented prime minister, and one who, instead of bilateral issues, will devote themselves to genuine European values”.
Media in North Macedonia are closely following the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, with analyses and expectations regarding the results featuring in current affairs programmes on television over the past week.
“I am somewhat disappointed by the low voter turnout among Macedonian Bulgarians (sic), because only 250 Macedonian Bulgarians are interested in participating in these elections, who, according to [former Bulgarian president and participant in today’s parliamentary elections Rumen] Radev, are more than 200,000. I expected higher turnout,” Mickoski told the media answering a question about the elections in Bulgaria.
Some local media have interpreted information about 210 submitted applications for voting in North Macedonia as the number of Bulgarians who will vote in Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections.
Based on this number of applications filed in advance, voting sections were opened at five locations in North Macedonia. Under Bulgarian legislation, voters may also vote without an advance application, provided they complete a declaration on site at the voting section.
By 11:30 am local time, a total of 157 Bulgarian citizens had voted in the voting sections in Skopje, Bitola, Strumica, Ohrid and Prilep. Voting is proceeding calmly.
/DD/