Today is a day of reflection before Sunday's runoff for president and vice president on 1 November, and campaigning is banned, the Electoral Code says. The campaign ended at midnight.

The code bars campaigning in the media before election day and on election day itself.

Polling agencies also may not release poll results in the media before election day or until the end of election day is announced in Bulgaria. They can publish results after 20:00 on Sunday.

Polling stations in Bulgaria are open from 7:00 to 20:00. If voters are still waiting outside a station, voting continues until 21:00 at the latest. Abroad, the hours are the same in local time.

Bulgaria introduced the day of reflection in 1991, after the democratic changes. There was none between 2009 and 2011.

The European Parliament's website shows that 16 EU countries have a period of silence before the vote for MEPs. It usually starts before the election and ends when polling stations close. That is the case in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.

Timing differs elsewhere. In Lithuania, silence starts 7 hours before election day, in France at midnight on Saturday and in Slovakia 48 hours before the vote.

The Netherlands has no special day of reflection, but campaigning is not allowed at polling stations on voting day. Limits differ in other countries too. In some, publishing polls, campaigning or political advertising is banned during the quiet period.