site.btaPresident Proposes Video Surveillance in Election Commissions, Volya Claim It Was Their Idea

December 13 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev on Thursday
proposed installing video surveillance systems in the offices of
 district election commissions to ensure greater transparency of
 vote counting. The parliamentary Volya party said Radev stole
the idea from them.

Speaking at a discussion on "Elections: Transparency and
Confidence," hosted by his administration, the President said:
"It is very important not only to broadcast image live on the
Internet but also to transmit sound so that everyone can hear
what the members of the district election commissions are
talking about and how they are working, thus enabling every
citizen at the end of polling day to follow what is going on in
the section where they have cast their vote. This will have a
disciplining effect on the commission members."

The President summed up: "The most important thing is
transparency. Transparency is the main principle on which
confidence can be built during elections."

Discussing the pros and cons of machine voting, Radev said the
argument that the Netherlands has given up on the method is
rather shallow.  He noted that during two consecutive
parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, when voter turnout
was over 80 per cent, the share of invalid votes was 0.4 per
cent, but in Bulgaria, where turnout in two consecutive
elections was a little over 50 per cent, the share of invalid
votes was 5 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.

The President proposed considering ways of organization and
up-to-date technologies which can ensure greater transparency
and confidence through video surveillance in district election
commissions, machine voting, remote electronic voting, voter
list updating and a possibility for individuals to check whether
 their vote has been misused.

Earlier on Thursday, the parliamentary Volya party said they
would not send representatives to the meeting with the
President. They noted that the discussion was belated. On
Wednesday, the National Assembly already approved important
amendments to the Election Code on first reading, including a
proposal by Volya to introduce video surveillance. "We do not
mind him stealing our ideas, like the one about video
surveillance, but he should not claim credit for them," the
party said.

Moreover, the President's Administration had been invited to
join the deliberations of the same matters in the Legal Affairs
Committee of the National Assembly, but neither the President
nor any members of his staff attended the proceedings.

Volya suspect that the meeting hosted by the President will be
used by the Bulgarian Socialist Party for publicity purposes. It
 was with the Socialists' backing that Radev was elected
President in 2016. RY/VE