In some places in Great Britain the voting is going ahead smoothly, but in others the members of the election commissions are under enormous strain. Some of the voters have given up waiting to cast their vote because of the huge queues.

Julian Dimitrov, observer of the election process at the Bulgarian embassy in London says that only 3 polling stations have been opened there, and 13 for the whole of London, an absolutely insufficient number in view of the number of people who want to vote.

“People have been waiting for over an hour. The queues are huge. Many of the people waiting in line have not registered online and have been filling out declarations on paper on the spot. The commissions, even when they have 9 members, are absolutely unable to cope. According to official data of the British authorities, there are 84,000 Bulgarians living in London and the problem is that there are not enough polling stations in the places where there is a concentration of Bulgarians. Under the election code, regions where there are fewer Bulgarians cannot be left without polling places because of the requirement to provide geographic coverage of the country. That is why there are so many people coming to the embassy, because in London not enough polling stations have been provided. There are 206,000 Bulgarians living in England. There is no way they can cast their vote in 35 polling stations.”

“We are really very busy. 700 people have voted so far and the queues are enormous,” Bisser Jambazov, chairman of the section election commission in London confirmed for Radio Bulgaria.  

The other polling station in Great Britain that has been overwhelmed is the polling station in Oxford where the situation is also critical. Maria Spirova, member of the section election commission there says:

“In Oxford, within the space of 3 hours we had 300 people coming to vote, that is unheard of. That means 100 people an hour. Many of the people who had come weren’t on the electoral roll, so we had to add them. Compliance with the anti-epidemic measures is on the verge of the impossible, and that is probably how it is going to stay until end of Election Day. People come to Oxford from a very large area outside London – from Reading, from Newbury etc.”

Maria Spirova says that one of the amendments Bulgarians living in Great Britain are demanding is the introduction of voting by mail, which would eliminate the large gatherings of people and the stress and strain.

One example of a polling station where the election day is proceeding smoothly is Exeter, southwestern England where by 1 PM Bulgarian time only 97 people had voted, though their number reached 244 by 3.20 PM.

We find Yoana Zhirova in front of the polling station in Chester, southwestern England. Yoana has been a member of the election commissions since 2013. She says that voter turnout really has been high.

“We have maybe 100-120 people waiting in line but they are all calm so, for the time being there is no problem. We are observing all anti-epidemic measures inside, and outside we have a big yard. 740 people have submitted prior applications, more than 350 haven’t. I am expecting their number to reach 1,000.”

Bulgarians from Liverpool, Crewe, Oswestry and elsewhere are voting at the polling station in Chester.  

Yoan Kolev