Bulgaria's Rulers Propose Banning Ministers from Heading Election HQs

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has vowed that GERB will initiate amendments preventing senior executive branch officials from heading election headquarters. Photo by BGNES

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has vowed that center-right ruling party GERB will initiate amendments banning the appointment of a Minister, Deputy Prime Minister or Prime Minister as head of a party's election campaign headquarters.

Speaking Wednesday at a round table organized at the President's Office devoted to electoral legislation, he explained that the move would eliminate "the last remaining cause for speculation."

Tsvetanov's appointment as head of GERB's election campaign headquarters alongside his term in office as Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister triggered widespread accusations of manipulations at the "2 in 1" local and presidential elections on October 23, 2011.

In his Wednesday statement, Tsvetanov referred to the allegations as "a huge frame-up."

"Do you believe that I would exercise some sort of right to influence the election process," the Interior Minister asked the roundtable participants, among whom were socialist MP Maya Manolova, Hristo Biserov from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), and a number of experts and representatives of NGOs, which were particularly critical of the activities of the Interior Ministry during the 2011 elections.

The Interior Minister went on to answer his rhetorical question with "this is just ridiculous."

He added that he had been on a leave during the election campaign and had never set foot at the building of the Interior Ministry during the preparations for the vote.

Tsvetanov further complained that a number of political parties had started speaking about "something that does not even remotely correspond to the truth" right after the end of the election day in end-October 2011.

He criticized the media hype surrounding the allegedly huge number of invalid ballots.

Tsvetanov insisted that the share of spoilt votes had decreased from 2007, the invalid ballots at the 2007 elections being 235 946, compared to 185 862 in 2011.

The Interior Minister stressed that GERB had hugely contributed to limiting the opportunity for vote buying by proposing the "X" sign as the only valid voting sign.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!