site.btaPM Supervises Preparation for Upcoming Elections, Preparation Goes as Planned

PM Supervises Preparation for Upcoming Elections, Preparation Goes as Planned

Sofia, March 15 (BTA) - Alerts have come for a variety of election-related violations but they are fewer than in previous elections, Deputy Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said here Wednesday after government's weekly meeting. He said that Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov has made a commitment to personally oversee the preparations for the elections.

Gerdjikov has already made a check in the northern city of Rousse and inspections are planned in the southern city of Blagoevgrad and Veliko Turnovo in central Bulgaria.

All alerts are being checked by joined teams of the Interior Ministry, the prosecution service and the State Agency for National Security.

The preparation for the election goes as planned, Yanev said.

It also transpired from Yanev's remarks that the applications for voting abroad that have been filed for March 26 outnumber those for the latest presidential elections in November 2016.

Yanev expects that Bulgarian voters may have to wait in lines to vote in London, in Turkey and Germany. The government has discussed with the Central Election Commission ways to streamline overseas voting.

Yanev also warned that on the election day the traffic across the border is likely to intensify as many Bulgarians will want to come back home to vote. He was adamant that the competent authorities are prepared to deal with this problem.

Yanev was asked by reporters to comment voting in Turkey and what Bulgaria saw as an interference in its internal affairs by a Turkish government minister who canvassed for the Bulgarian party DOST among Bulgarian emigrants. The Deputy Prime Minister said that the episode involving the Turkish minister was isolated and was not part of a pattern in the behaviour of Ankara. He also said that Turkey has assured Bulgaria that it will provide all conditions for a smooth voting process in keeping with the Bulgarian legislation.

Yanev argued that if Bulgaria does as some politicians - certainly the nationalists of United Patriots and the Reformist Bloc - urge and closes the border for "voting tourists" from Turkey or reduces the number of voting sections in Turkey, it would thus be breaking its own Election Code.

He assured the press that there are clear rules which will enable the competent authorities to react to all alerts and violations. "We rely on the news media to report irregularities," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

He added that Bulgaria has taken precautions against cyber attacks during the elections.