Bulgarian Statistics Institute Reluctant to Count Election Ballots

Reneta Indzhova, head of Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute. Photo by BGNES

It would not be appropriate for Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI) to count the ballots at the upcoming early elections on May 12, NSI head Reneta Indzhova stated on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, right-wing leader and former PM Ivan Kostov argued that NSI should count the ballots instead of state-owned IT company Information Services.

However, Indzhova has pointed out that statistical offices across Europe have been urged to remain politically neutral.

"Carrying out a population census is different from counting the ballots in an election," she told reporters, stating that requesting the latter would be a "political offer."

Nevertheless, Indzhova added that NSI would count the ballots if required to do so.

The proposal for the removal of Information Services from the competition for counting the ballots at the early elections came after the director of the state-owned company, Prof. Mihail Konstantinov, declared that if the alternative to the center-right GERB government was a tripartite coalition, he would "do everything possible to prevent this from happening."

The statement caused the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), and right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) to demand the removal of the IT firm from the election process.

The official decision of the caretaker Prime Minister on the matter is to be announced on March 26, the deadline for filing bids with the CEC for the tender for selecting a company to count the votes at the May 12 elections.

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