Citizens protest in central Sofia in support of 100% machine voting in elections

Thousands of citizens protested last night in the so-called "Triangle of Power" in central Sofia, calling for honest and fair elections and for 100% machine-based counting of election results. The demonstration was organized by "We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB coalition).

“There is a big difference between introducing a new election technology - which, of course, should not be done at the last minute - and returning to a system that worked election after election just a few years ago. This is much safer, more sensible, and supported by more people,” said Bozhidar Bozhanov, co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria. He described the current situation with both machines and paper ballots as a bad option, because in practice the machines function as printers and, in the end, the ballots are still counted by people.

Commenting on the earlier cancellation of the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs meeting, which was supposed to discuss the introduction of fully machine-based voting, the MP interpreted this as a sign that lawmakers are afraid of the people in the square.

The other co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria, Ivaylo Mirchev, commented on remarks by GERB leader Boyko Borissov - published at the same time the protest began - that he supports voting with “scanning machines” to eliminate the human factor, but that if there is not enough time, it would be better to keep the current system with machines and paper ballots. “Boyko Borissov is a political fraudster and will do whatever Delyan Peevski tells him. He has no independent thinking,” Mirchev said. The chair of We Continue the Change, Assen Vassilev, also spoke in favor of protecting the vote and urged people to vote for politicians who do not steal.

While citizens were protesting, the message “The mafia doesn’t like machines” was projected onto the façade of the Presidency building.

Edited by Diana Tsankova
English version: R. Petkova