site.btaCentral Election Commission Fines Volen Siderov after He Ruined Local Elections Campaign Debate on National TV

October 3 (BTA) - The Central Election Commission (CEC)
has ordered the leader of the nationalist Ataka party, Volen
Siderov, to pay a fine for violating the terms and order for an
election campaign debate on the Bulgarian National TV on October
 1. The Commission's decision is published on its website.

Siderov participated in the debate in his capacity as Ataka
candidate for Sofia mayor and as head of his party's campaign
manager.

CEC says that its decision was prompted by three complaints for
a violation: by the electronic media regulator, by MEP Angel
Djambazki, who is the candidate for Sofia mayor of his VMRO
part, and by the Bulgarian National Television.

CEC found that during the said TV debate the Ataka leader "used
indecent language with respect to the other participants in the
dispute and its moderator", "did not allow the other
participants to answer the questions and attacked verbally
Yulian Angelov, the representative of the VMRO campaign
headquarters, as well as Angel Djambazki, the Sofia mayoral
candidate of the same party, VMRO leader Krassimir Karakachanov
and the debate moderator".
  
He also called Djambazki "gay" and "gay parade leader", and used
 disrespectful language to address the moderator and two female
participants in the debate. The CEC decision recalls Siderov
saying that Karakachanov stole 1 billion leva from the Bulgarian
 people and gave them to the United States.

With all of the above, Siderov violated the Election Code which
says that the canvassing materials and the candidates and
representatives of the parties, coalitions and nominating
committees may not violate good manners, the honour and
reputation of the candidates. 

The pejorative language he used, as well as his refusal to
respect the BNT rules for election disputes and to change his
behaviour after he was repeatedly asked to behave properly and
allow the other candidates to answer the questions - and finally
 his refusal to leave the BNT studio, clearly showed a
reluctance to observe the established rules of a public media to
 cover the election campaign and trespassed good manners, the
honour and reputation of the candidates, the Central Election
Commission said. 

The amount of the fine will be determined at a later stage.
RY/LN/