BREAKING: No Machine Voting on Sunday’s Local Elections in Bulgaria!

The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) decided that the local vote on October 29 and a possible second round will be conducted by paper ballots only. The meeting lasted several hours.

The proposal was adopted with 12 votes in favor and two against. Before the vote, Tsvetozar Tomov made a proposal to give a deadline of 2 hours for a decision by the Ministry of Electronic Management on the authentication of the machines, BTA reported.

Tsvetozar Tomov called the decision shameful. A voice was heard in the hall suggesting that the elimination of the machines only applies to the first round and not to the local vote as a whole.

"I categorically disagree with my colleague Tomov that the situation is shameful for the CEC. I think that the CEC was put in this situation as a result of the actions of other people," said the head of the commission Kamelia Neikova during the meeting, quoted by "24 Chasa".

She denied that the CEC was not aware of the information from the State Agency for National Security (SANS). And she emphasized that she reported everything about the case correctly.

"You are familiar with everything that was done today. For me, as a member of the CEC, this was a very difficult decision," said Neikova. She expressed hope that in the next elections the CEC will not be faced with the task of making such a decision. The commission will meet again tomorrow.

The CEC's decision was reached after a SANS report to the National Assembly described how Deputy Minister of Electronic Government Mihail Stoinov downloaded the hash codes for the machines, photographed them with his phone and downloaded them to a flash drive. "Vazrazhdane", BSP and "There Is Such a People" announced that the elections had already been compromised and demanded that the Central Election Commission (CEC) cancel the machine voting.

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