site.btaNational Ombudsman Sends Strong-Worded Message to Central Election Commission over Problems with Overseas Voting and Other Election Issues

National Ombudsman Sends Strong-Worded Message to Central Election Commission over Problems with Overseas Voting and Other Election Issues

Sofia, October 12 (BTA) - National Ombudsman Maya Manolova has sent a strong-worded message to the Central Election Commission (CEC) urging the elections administration to reconsider three of its decisions connected with overseas voting and other election issues, said Manolova's office Wednesday.

In one case about which the Ombudsman has been alerted, Bulgarians who live in the UK complain that they may be impeded in exercising their voting rights at the November 6 presidential elections due to the rule that the number of voting stations in one country may not be more than 35.

As of this moment, over 7,000 applications for overseas voting have been filed in the UK and for 51 locations the number of applications is higher than the minimum of 60 that are required for the opening of a voting station.

While there is strong reason to expect that 35 polling stations will be far insufficient for the large number of Bulgarians who want to vote for Bulgarian president in the UK, in other countries polling stations will be opened even though nobody has asked to vote within the deadline set by the law and these countries don't have Bulgarian communities, Manolova says. She mentions as examples Pyongyang, Ulaanbaatar, Ramallah, Tripoli, Baghdad and Addis Ababa.

The Ombudsman expects the Central Election Commission to respect the will and the wish of Bulgarians abroad as declared in their applications to vote, and allow the opening of as many polling stations as are required in these voting applications.

The Ombudsman is also disgruntled over a CEC decision whereby voters must declare expressly their wish to vote in the national referendum. "This goes against the democratic principles and violated the civil rights of voters by not guaranteeing them free access to the referendum ballot," she says.

Manolova argues that giving a voter a referendum ballot only after he or she asks for one, may impede or prevent his or her participation in the referendum, which goes counter the established democratic standards.

The third issue that the Ombudsman brings to the attention of the election administration has to do with the restrictions on the spending of the so called "media packages".

The "media packages" are of 40,000 leva each and are provided to all parties, coalitions and nominating committees in the presidential campaign and the campaign for the national referendum. The Central Election Committee decided that this money can only be spent for campaigning in TV and radio operators and newspapers with national coverage but not in local newspapers and Internet-based media outlets.

The Ombudsman argues that with this restriction the CEC "inadmissibly supplements" the Election Code and creates rules which violate media freedom.