“Another thing we should point out is that the Bulgarian community in Kuwait has shrunk considerably. You know the situation in the Gulf, and the Bulgarian community really has become very, very small.”
The situation in the Persian Gulf in March 2026, amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, necessitated the timely evacuation of dozens of Bulgarians from Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. Those events also prevented a polling station from being opened in Kuwait City for Bulgaria’s parliamentary elections in April 2026. In the presidential election a polling station was operating there, and there is still hope among the few compatriots who remain.
“There is hope that, after all, something depends on us. It is very difficult to believe that your vote can change anything, but the alternative is complete despair. That is why the people who voted today came out to cast their ballots,” Milena Baeva says.