site.btaPresident Radev in Consultations with Extraparliamentary Parties:The Goal Is a Legitimately Elected Parliament

January 9 (BTA) - During President Rumen Radev's consultations with extraparliamentary political parties on Saturday, discussing ways to ensure fair and safe elections when Bulgarians vote for a new Parliament, he said that the common goal of institutions and political parties is finding the best solutions to preserve the health of the citizens, their right to vote and the trust in the election process, resulting in a normal voter turnout and a legitimately elected parliament. He added that it is important to conduct the pre-election campaign on an equal footing, so that Bulgarians can be realistically represented in next parliament.

Toshko Yordanov, deputy leader of There Is Such a People, said that as the law stands, the President must set a date for the elections, and the party will accept any decision he makes within the two months he has to do so.

Filip Stanev of There Is Such a People warned that the upcoming vote will be organized by the ruling GERB, which casts a shadow of suspicion over the fairness of the elections.

During his meeting with representatives of Democratic Bulgaria, President Radev focused on the party's bill on postal voting for Bulgarians abroad and auditing the voting machines. He said that the receipt in such voting must bear both a barcode and the name of the political party chosen, to be subsequently checked against the memory of the voting machine. According to him, this will guarantee the reliability of machine voting.

Hristo Ivanov of Democratic Bulgaria said that the party is ready to submit the bills in question, and insisted that political parties be allowed to collect the petitions for participation in the elections digitally, as an anti-epidemic measure. He also suggested that vote counting be streamed online in real time, and election runners be granted more air time on the national television and radio.

Leader of Izpravi se.BG (Rise Up) Maya Manolova said that the organization of fair elections has been sabotaged by the very institutions that are supposed to conduct them. She proposed that a second, citizen's central election commission be established and tasked with counting the votes in parallel with the Central Election Commission.

In Manolova's opinion, the Election Code already provides for cases of quarantined voters, using mobile voting stations and video surveillance of the elections. Izpravi se.BG will insist on allowing postal voting for Bulgarian citizens abroad or in quarantine.

President Radev replied that the Central Election Commission refuses to regulate mobile station voting and real-time video recording of the election process. He added that paper receipts must be counted and double checked against the electronic memory of the voting machines.

The representatives of Vazrazhdane suggested to the President that active citizens and civic organizations assume the role of observers during the election process, with at least three of them in each voting station to reduce the risk of manipulation. Leader Kostadin Kostadinov said that the party is in favour of March 28 as election day, and demanded revisions in the Election Code regarding political advertisement. In his opinion, the principle "if you donТt pay, you get no coverage" leaves many people unable to find the political party that would represent them best in the National Assembly.

President Radev's meetings with representatives of extraparliamentary political parties will continue on Sunday.

RI/MT
/МТ/