site.btaInterior Minister Rashkov: "Nearly 100 Vote Buying Alerts Received"

July 1 (BTA) - Nearly 100 alerts have already been
received about vote buying attempts by large groups, including
political parties, caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov
told a news conference here on Thursday.

"We will not give in to this evil and twisted practice," Rashkov
 said. A police crackdown was launched on Thursday morning
"against those who want to distort the political landscape and
seek to misrepresent the people's vote," he specified, adding
that the operation is taking place countrywide and will continue
 until the end of polling day.

In two villages near Burgas (on the Black Sea), people have been
 offered 80 leva per vote, plus another 20 leva if an entire
family votes for a particular party. In a Burgas neighbourhood,
loan sharks promised to waive part of borrowers' debts if they
cast ballots for the "right" party. Prosecutors are probing a
case in a village near Pleven (North Central Bulgaria), where
the turnout documented at the April 4 elections was treble the
number of voters on the electoral roll.

A Bulgarian in Germany is trying to set up a voting section for
people who do not live in that location, submitting fake
applications on behalf of unsuspecting voters. Most probably,
this section will not be established.

In Kyustendil (Southwestern Bulgaria), a former interior
minister and a former regional governor allegedly discussed ways
 of soliciting some 15,000 people holding dual Bulgarian and
North Macedonian citizenship to vote in the July 11 elections.
The local police chief, who is on sick leave, also attended the
meeting.

Three printing establishments and places where election
commission seals are kept are under round-the-clock guard. The
police will also be escorting 300-plus mobile voting sections.
On the whole, over 20,000 police officers will enforce law and
order during the elections. RI/LG

/МЙ/