Bulgaria Vote Was Legitimate, Electoral Body Says

Central Electoral Committee chairperson Krasimira Medarova. Photo by BGNES

Last week’s general election in Bulgaria was legitimate, according to Central Electoral Committee chairperson Krasimira Medarova.

Medarova told reporters on Saturday that the election process was fair.
She refused to comment on whether the vote could be cancelled, since it is up to the Constitutional Court to rule on that.

Medarova’s statement follows the surprising request made by former PM Boyko Borisov that the election results be canceled by the Constitutional Court.

Borisov, whose center-right GERB party narrowly won the election, announced Thursday that GERB will appeal to the constitutional court and seek the cancellation of the election due to “a gross violation of the law in the day before the vote."

Borisov claimed that his party's chances had been damaged by allegations that it was about to commit voting fraud.  He referred to the overnight raid of the Bulgarian prosecuting authority and the State Agency for National Security at a printing house on the eve of Election Day, during which a total of 350 000 illegal ballots were seized.

The printing house is owned by a GERB municipal councilor, which prompted opposition parties to accuse GERB of an attempted voting fraud. The parties thus allegedly broke the mandatory pre-election silence on the day before the vote.

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