A total of 6884 271 Bulgarians will be eligible to vote at the July 5 2009 elections for Parliament in the country, the Central Election Committee (CEM) said on June 29 2009.

A total of 103 684 people have been removed from election lists on the grounds of voting abroad or serving time in prison, among other reasons.

The CEC has registered 21 observers for election day from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). They will join representatives from five Bulgarian organisations and nine polling agencies who have also been registered to observe the election process.

The OSCE decided to deploy a Limited Election Observation Mission (LEOM) in Bulgaria on June 10 2009.

Particular attention would be paid to assessing the election campaign, new legal provisions and the electoral environment in regions populated by national minorities. The mission will visit a limited number of polling stations on election day itself.

In its June report, published on OSCE website, NAM said that all Bulgarian political parties it spoke to had expressed concerns about the possibility of intimidation and vote-buying, especially in vulnerable communities such as Roma, mixed areas and small villages.

Representatives of minority groups also raised concerns regarding statements that they felt could be considered as bordering on hate speech by the ultra-nationalist Ataka party during the campaign for the European Parliament elections. They also expressed the view that such statements could become part of the platform of more mainstream political parties for the July 5 elections.