site.btaProsecutor's Office Reports over 3,300 Election Violation Alerts

The prosecutor's office has received 3,393 alerts in connection with the local elections. The number is 52% more compared to those received during the previous local elections in 2019, when the number of alerts was 1,774, said Deputy Prosecutor General Maria Pavlova at a press conference here on Friday.

Pavlova noted that there was also an increase in the pre-trial proceedings initiated, with 231 so far compared to 136 in 2019. She added that reports continue to come in and new investigations are being opened.

Video surveillance at polling stations after the voting has ended has played its part in detecting much of this type of crime, according to Maria Pavlova. All political parties were buying or trying to buy votes, she said.

The prosecutor's office reported that in the past local elections more than 30,000 people were registered as candidates for municipal councilors and mayors - i.e. persons with immunity, which has hampered the work of the interdepartmental unit for electoral crimes, established between the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Interior and SANS.

So far, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov has submitted a request to lift the immunity of four people, as this has been authorised by the CEC and they have been brought to criminal responsibility, said Vanya Stefanova, head of the department at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office.

Interior Ministry Secretary General Zhivko Kotsev explained that the police had located the risky polling stations and the 2,767 reports received were mostly about vote-buying, destruction and damage of election materials, and corporate voting. Most of the reports came from the districts of Burgas, Blagoevgrad and Pazardzhik. During election week, more than 1,900 tip-offs were received.

Kotsev also noted an increase in the number of alerts - in 2019 they were 1,656, and now the increase is over 65%. Criminal proceedings initiated by the Ministry of Interior in the past local elections were 221, while their number in 2019 was 102.