Sofia Election Body: GERB MPs Presence at Vote Count Was Illegitimate

Sofia election officials are seen carrying heavy bags filled with the ballots and the protocols from their voting polls. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The two MPs from the ruling party GERB, who were inside the facility where the capital's ballots have been counted, should not have been there, according to the Chair of the Sofia Municipal Electoral Commission (OIC), Marina Belcheva.

Belcheva spoke Sunday for the Bulgarian news agency BGNES, saying OIC had undertaken all necessary measures to guarantee a normal count of ballots and have provided security guards to monitor who has access inside the Sofia Universiada Hall where the election documentation was processed.

The OIC Chair further pointed out that security guards were provided with lists of individuals, who can enter the Hall, and everyone expected from them to do the job they have been hired for. She was firm the two Members of the Parliament from the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) were not on the said lists, adding in addition to members of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and of OIK, only technical personnel had been granted access to Universiada Hall.

Belcheva, however, declined comments on further developments in the case, stressing that from now on the issue is within the authority of CEC.

The GERB MP in question, Stanislav Ivanov, firmly rejects accusations of attempting to manipulate elections results.

On Monday, one day after the country's presidential and local elections, Ivanov and another GERB MP, Ivan Bozhilov, were seen inside the capital's Universiada Hall where the Sofia ballots were counted by OIC. GERB issued a statement denying claims the two were there to manipulate the outcome of the count, and explained they were accredited by the party as representatives before the Central Election Commission (CEC) and OIC.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Bulgarian Sega daily published a picture of Ivanov where he is seen carrying a bag filled with ballots in the company of another man. According to the MP, cited by Dnevnik, he had the bag because he was helping a pregnant woman and an elderly one with the load.

Ivanov insists he was nowhere near the computers where the ballots were counted, but remained in the lobby, trying to help with the organization, adding he felt sorry so many in Bulgaria turn every simple act into politics.

In the aftermath of the October 23 presidential and local elections, the Sofia Municipal Electoral Commission (OIC) was overrun by total disarray over poor organization and long delays in the counting of ballots, which continued well into the night.

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