site.btaPACE Delegation Observing November 14 Elections in Bulgaria Says Elections Were Competitive, Fundamental Freedoms Respected

November 15 (BTA corr. Nikolay Jeliazkov) - The
presidential and early parliamentary elections held in Bulgaria
on 14 November were competitive and fundamental freedoms were
respected. However, public interest and trust in the electoral
process is undermined by the long-standing issue of vote-buying
and also by the failure of the political process to produce a
government, concluded a delegation from the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), quoted in a press
release of PACE's Communication Division.
 
The 19-member delegation, led by Alfred Heer (Switzerland,
ALDE), met with leaders and representatives of political parties
 and coalitions, members of the ODIHR Election Assessment
Mission, the Chairperson and members of the Central Election
Commission, and representatives of NGOs and the media, before
observing the ballot on 14 November.
 
The delegation was aware of the challenges posed by the
organization of a third poll in a single year, after the
elections of 4 April and 11 July - which PACE also observed -
especially during a period when the Covid pandemic is having
such a strong impact on Bulgarian society.
 
It heard from its interlocutors about the persistence of
long-standing issues affecting electoral processes in Bulgaria
such as, for example, the widespread problem of vote control and
 vote-buying (in particular in economically fragile communities
such as the Roma), together with the practical difficulties of
effectively combating this practice. The use of machine voting
might have reduced the opportunities for vote-buying. The
delegation understood that the unusually extensive use of mobile
 box voting during the recent elections, mostly in these
communities, was considered by some as a means to further
facilitate vote control and buying.
 
The PACE delegation welcomed the fact that the Ministry of the
Interior, over the last few months, began a campaign of action
in this area. The existing legal provisions concerning
vote-buying should obviously be seen to be enforced. However,
some interlocutors of the PACE delegation did question whether
political interests were behind this action.
 
The delegation was also informed about issues linked to the
machine-voting system which, according to some interlocutors,
limit the participation of voters who are not familiar with
modern technologies. It noted that the mysterious discovery of
hundreds of such machines on several government-owned premises,
only days before election day, together with the unconvincing
explanations offered by the authorities, raised serious
questions about the possibility of electoral fraud.
 
On election day, the PACE delegation split into 11 teams which
observed the vote in Sofia and its surroundings, as well as in
the regions of Batak, Blagoevgrad, Doupnitsa, Karlovo,
Kyustendil, Mezdra, Pazardjik, Pernik, Plovdiv, Pravets,
Samokov, Slivnitsa and Velingrad. In the polling stations
observed, members of the polling station commissions were
co-operative and the voting was calm, transparent and well
organized; however, some technical problems with the functioning
 of the voting machines were observed and some organizational
shortcomings. Some people had difficulties in using the voting
machines. The design of the process on the screen led to some
voters excluding themselves from one of the two elections.
 
The PACE delegation expresses thanks to the Bulgarian
authorities for the support received in organizing the mission
and assures them that PACE and the Venice Commission will
continue to co-operate to bring further improvements to
Bulgaria's electoral legislation and practices.
 
A report on the observation of the 14 November elections will be
 presented to the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg, in January
2022. RY/ZH


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