site.btaSocialist Sofia Mayor Candidate Grigorova Hopes Saturday's Machine Voting Talk Won't Overshadow Candidates' Messages, Ideas

"I hope that the talk and arguments about technology yesterday did not overshadow the ideas and messages of the candidates. I urge each one not to be taken as a voiceless witness to what is happening in his or her life, "the Socialists' candidate for Sofia mayor, Vanya Grigorova, said after voting in the local elections on Sunday. 

The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday eliminated voting machines over security breach allegations. Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria contested the decision before the Supreme Administrative Court but it said that cannot consider the matter before Monday, October 30, sparking debates over the issue of machine voting and CEC's last-minute decision to scrap it.

"I voted for Sofia, where every citizen can and should be heard," Grigorova explained. According to her, Sofia should be a brighter city, free from the power of money, where everyone feels at home, a city without elite and non-elite schools, without private streets and without fenced municipal ones.

Grigorova urged people to come out and show that they are more important than machines. The technology is not important, what is important is the will of the people, and that can be expressed by machine or paper, the candidate said. She said she would not just make it to the runoff elections, but win.