The first ever Bulgarian voting station has been opened in Exeter - thanks to an city student.
Pavel Kondov, a Bulgarian national in his second year studying international relations at Exeter University enabled citizens and students from Bulgaria living in the South West to vote in the recent Bulgarian General Elections by creating a voting station in Exeter.
Pavel a Bulgarian national in his second year studying International Relations brought together a group of Social Science students to help run the vote.
For a voting station to be opened abroad (outside of Bulgaria) a minimum of 40 people need to submit a registration form expressing their wish to vote elsewhere.
Pavel and his team mobilised Bulgarians, both citizens and students, living in Devon and Cornwall to participate and secured 70 applications. This enabled a voting station to be opened in Devon.
Voting took place in a hotel conference room in the centre of Exeter.
Pavel said: "On voting day, we had an impressive turnout of 177 voters, a result we are delighted with as we thought even optimistically we might get around 95 people.
" In addition to the majority of the students who go to the University of Exeter, we had a large number of voters who work in Exeter and the region. A lot of them shared with us how happy they were that they had the opportunity to vote in the elections. Many thanked us for the initiative. Despite the common disillusionment with the political realities in Bulgaria, the election day was a celebration."
The initiative leaves a legacy - since more than 100 people voted, a voting station will be opened automatically for all national elections in the following five years.
Professor Andrew Massey, Head of Politics at the university, said: For those of us born and raised in the United Kingdom, scepticism with politics and politicians can all too often slide into cynicism. It is important to remember that genuine democracy is often hard to win and even harder to nurture."
