Bulgarian NGO: Electoral Commission Info Reminds of X Files

Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (logo pictured) is accused by NGO's and voters in the country and abroad of working in the dark and creating obstacles to citizens in violation of their rights. File photo

The protocols and the short-hand notes of Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission, CEK, are as secret as the X Files, according to the Bulgarian NGO Institute for Public Environment Development (IRPS).

The Chair of IRPS, Antoaneta Tsoneva, says the analogy with the popular US TV series is more than obvious, pointing out the NGO, under the Access to Public Information Act, had requested from CEK the said protocols and notes because it wanted to use them to access the effect of the new Election Code.

CEK, however, sent a letter refusing to provide the documents, which, according to Tsoneva, is a mockery of IRPS and their work.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Parliament rejected during the week a Bill which would have mandated CEK to publish all of their protocols. The Bill was endorsed only by 31 Members of the Parliament from the opposition, left-wing Coalition for Bulgaria. The only argument of the majority, mainly from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party was that all parliamentary groups have representatives with CEK and can receive information from them.

"We don't have representatives, media don't either," Tsoneva points out, stressing this has been a vicious practice, lasting for over 20 years now with CEK remaining one of the very few institutions to work in the dark unlike the Council of Ministers, the Parliament, the parliamentary committees, and the Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, whose sessions are public.

The NGO assert CEK's refusal letter has no legal grounds and is in violation of the adopted election procedures.

"The CEK sessions are documented and the notes reflect opinions and proposals which relate to the operational preparations of the Commission's decisions and have no individual significance," the above said letter reads, which IRPS insist is a faulty statement because it is trying to disguise CEK protocols as internal and not public information.

"The Election Code underlines that CEK decisions must be published and nowhere there is a text mandating for CEK sessions to be held behind closed doors and for the protocols to be kept secret. The latter have details of interest to all Bulgarian citizens. The public has no idea how the CEK decisions are taken. The protocols don't even list how a certain member has voted and on what grounds," the Executive Director of the NGO, Svetoslav Georgiev, further stresses.

The outrage comes on the backdrop of numerous complaints from Bulgarians abroad, reporting that diplomatic representations are creating a number of obstacles to those who want to take part in the October 23 presidential elections. The expats threaten to stage protest rallies across the world at Bulgarian Embassies and Consulates.

The IRPS has launched and maintains an internet site – For Fair Elections, dedicated to the monitoring of violations in the election process.

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