site.btaBulgarian Socialists Vote for Leader in First Direct Elections

ESD 16:29:01 12-09-2020
DS1627ES.104
104 POLITICS - BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY CHAIR - ELECTIONS

Bulgarian Socialists
Vote for Leader
in First Direct Elections


Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - The members of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Saturday vote on a new party leader in the first direct elections in the BSP's history. Running in the elections are the party's current leader, Kornelia Ninova, her deputy Kiril Dobrev, and Socialist MPs Valeri Zhablyanov and Krassimir Yankov.

On September 8, another candidate for BSP leader, Georgi Todorov, withdrew from the race. The voters are informed at the polling districts that a vote for Todorov will be considered invalid.

Also on September 8, candidates Zhablyanov and Yankov issued a joint position calling on Socialists to not participate in the direct elections because of what they consider a vitiated election procedure. According to them, the organization in place is a precondition for gross manipulations and substitution of the actual election results.

Some 800, 000 persons have the right to vote on a new BSP leader but their exact number is unclear. The deceased BSP members and those who have left the party prior to the election day have been removed from the electoral register, but the central commission tasked with conducting the direct elections has not requested from the municipal commissions information on the exact number of local voters.

There are 1,140 polling districts in the country, including mobile ones scheduled to move between small settlements.

The election results are expected to be announced late on Sunday, Emil Voynov, head of the central commission, told BTA.

According to the rules adopted by the BSP National Council, the direct elections are considered regular if more than half of the BSP members with voting rights have cast their vote. To be elected, a candidate needs to have received more than half of the valid votes, otherwise a second ballot is to be held in one week's time (September 19).