Bulgarian Socialists Demand Vote Recall in 5 Locations

Bulgarian Socialist leader, Sergey Stanishev, says the elections' outcome had proven once again that the ruling GERB is not a political formation, but an organized crime group. Photo by BGNES

The opposition left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) announced Tuesday they will ask for a recall of results from local elections in four regional centers and one town – the cities of Smolyan, Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv, Sofia and the town of Lom.

Party leader, Sergey Stanishev, who is a former Prime Minister in the previous Three-Way Coalition cabinet, informs of the Socialists' intention to file court claims in these cities.

According to Stanishev, the elections' outcome had proven once again that the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) is not a political formation, but an organized crime group.

He reiterated that BSP is in upsurge and led a strong election campaign, stressing his party received an impressive number of 1 527 000 votes, only 165 000 less than the winner - GERB.

Stanishev claims that GERB had used oligarchs for pressuring voters and vote buying, blaming Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, in an attempt to break down the opposition. He further accuses Deputy PM, Interior Minister, and Head of GERB's election campaign headquarters, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, of being the mastermind of "this election technology."

"I am not sure GERB's candidate for president, Rosen Plevneliev, is aware of the way Borisov and Tsvetanov do elections. We cannot compromise with such rule. If elections were honest, fair and democratic, our candidates would have been winners," the Socialists' leader declared, adding GERB are afraid of new elections because they will need another BGN 100 M for vote buying and other violations.

Meanwhile, the BSP candidate for Mayor of Sofia, Georgi Kadiev, and the party's candidates for municipal councilors filed claims with the Sofia Municipal Electoral Commission (OIC) to recall local results in the capital. Within 2 weeks OIC must attach their letter to the claims and send them to the Administrative Court.

Kadiev, who concedes his loss, explains the motives for such move with poor organization on Election Day, depriving people from their right to vote; extending the time for the polls to remain open beyond the legally set one, and a staggering number of violations – missing protocols from voting sections, which were later filled by OIC; protocols filled incorrectly or left in voting sections overnight; chaos at OIC after the closing of the polls in the first round of the elections on October 23, and the presence of two Members of the Parliament from GERB in the Universiada Hall where election documentation was collected.

It was also reported Tuesday, that he Administrative Court in the southern Bulgarian city of Kardzhali had fulfilled GERB's request to have a ballot recount in the local elections.

Last week, the GERB MP and party leader for the Kardzhali region, Tsveta Karayancheva, filed a claim with the Kardzhali OIC against its October 24 decision to declare Hasan Azis, from the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms( DPS) mayor-reelect of the city.

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