site.bta Voting Day Proceeds Peacefully

Voting Day  Proceeds Peacefully

Sofia, March 26 (BTA) - Voting day began peacefully on Sunday, the Interior Ministry reported. The security situation at polling stations was normal during the previous night. At 7 a.m. the polling station premises and the election materials in them were handed over to the respective election commissions. The Interior Ministry has no information about any acts that could jeopardize the election process. In the capital Sofia, 2,360 police officers and gendarmes are providing security during the day.

Sixty-eight alerts about irregularities were received by 6.30 p.m. at the hotline of the Interior Ministry's Situation Centre. Twenty of them were within the ministry's field of competence. The situation in the border areas is normal, the Interior Ministry said.

By 11 a.m., the prosecution service opened 79 pretrial procedures over alleged violations of voting rights, the press office of the Prosecution of Bulgaria said. There are 19 such procedures in Sofia, seven in Plovdiv, 13 in Varna, and 20 each in Bourgas and Veliko Turnovo. Nine alerts were referred to other competent bodies, including the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the National Audit Office. Prosecutors opened 560 case files and issued 394 refusals.

So far on Sunday, the CEC has considered nine alerts and one complaint concerning the election process and unlawful canvassing. In one case, medical workers who were on 12-hour duty in a Sofia hospital were denied a mobile voting service. The CEC issued instructions and these people were eventually able to exercise their right to vote, CEC Spokesperson Alexander Andreev said.