Most Infringements of Election Rules Do Not Incur Criminal Liability - Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev has said that most of the reported infringements of election rules are not within the competence of the prosecution Photo by BGNES

The poor organization of the election process could incur administrative, political or some other type of liability except for criminal, Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev said Thursday, commenting on the October 23 presidential and local vote.

"As you well know, the decisions of the electoral commissions cannot be appealed before the prosecution," he added.

Velchev also drew attention to the fact that not all violations of the Election Code constituted a crime.

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor did not specify whether the prosecuting authority would self-initiate proceedings over the chaotic conduct of Sunday's "2 in 1" elections but said that the unit would take the necessary steps if it received a tip-off.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Lyutvi Mestan, MP from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party complained that thousands of Bulgarians who met the Election Code's residency requirements had not been allowed to vote.

Mestan claimed that the executive branch had carried out serious crimes, some of which were punishable by up to 3 years in prison under Bulgaria's Criminal Code.

"I have no doubt that these trials will reach Strasbourg," the MP declared.

"The easiest thing to do now is to declare everything a crime and to assign it to the prosecution. In any case, we must not forget that there is a special section of the Criminal Code entirely devoted to election crimes and anything that is not mentioned there constitutes a violation of election rules, not a crime," Velchev explained.

"We announce the number of pre-trial proceedings and checks opened on a daily basis. My prediction is that they will grow in number by the end of next week," Velchev added.

In the middle of next week, Bulgaria's prosecuting authority will make an overall analysis of the pre-trial proceedings opened into violations of election regulations.

The first round of the presidential and local elections was held in a high-strung atmosphere amid widespread reports of various sorts of election fraud, including vote-buying and vote-selling, deliberate invalidation of ballots, unwarranted presence of MPs in halls designated for vote-counting, ballot bags and election protocols left unattended, random adjustments made to election protocols so as to match the number of ballots cast and avoid a recount, etc.

The runoff will be held on October 30.

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