26 are the polling stations that opened their doors in Italy today, i.e. they are three less than in the elections of November last year. "This does not mean that the interest in the elections is less strong," Veneta Nenkova, a member of the sectional election commission in Florence, creator of the "Asen and Ilia Peikovi" Sunday School - Rome/Florence, told Radio Bulgaria. ‎

"After this difficult period of the pandemic in the last year and a half, many Bulgarians in Italy lost their jobs and decided that it is better to return to Bulgaria - this is the main reason. I think that the Bulgarians here are relatively active," she pointed out. According to her, this time there were no weaknesses in the organization of the vote, which is partly due to the accumulated experience. ‎

There are just over 200 Bulgarians registered on the territory of Florence. Two hours before the end of the election day, 96 people had voted in Florence, which is 6 more than those who exercised their right to vote there in November last year. Voting is done with paper ballots.

"We notice that the Bulgarian tourists who are currently in Florence are particularly active - they are mainly young people, which makes us happy", Nenkova told us and expressed hope that this time the Bulgarians have made a wise choice:

"Comparing with the recent elections in Italy, I have great courage that Bulgaria has many more opportunities in this difficult moment, if we choose the right leaders, Bulgaria will get out of this extremely difficult moment for the whole world as easily as possible."‎