PP–DB and Vazrazhdane plan protests in Sofia

The We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (PP–DB) coalition is organising a protest on Tuesday evening, calling for the introduction of 100% machine voting at the upcoming parliamentary election. The demonstration is scheduled for 6:00 pm local time at Independence Square in central Sofia.

Entering parliament earlier in the day, Ivaylo Mirchev, co-chair of Yes, Bulgaria, said he expected the election to be rigged by GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which he said were “regrouping” rather than dismantling the existing political model.

The nationalist Vazrazhdane party is also planning a protest starting at 6:00 pm. Party leader Kostadin Kostadinov said voting should be based on mutual oversight between machines and human officials. He said voting machines should print paper slips and a protocol, with election commissions counting the slips and comparing the results, allowing both the machines and commission members to monitor each other. Only such a system could ensure genuine transparency and trust in the electoral process, he added.

A meeting of parliament’s legal affairs committee scheduled for Tuesday, at which proposed amendments to the Electoral Code were to be discussed, was cancelled. Lawmakers had been due to consider at first reading PP–DB proposals that would introduce 100% machine voting.

Editor: Miglena Ivanova
Posted in English by E. Radkova