site.btaLocal Run-offs: Voter Turnout Ended at 42.1%

November 6 (BTA) - Voter turnout stood at 42.1 per cent
at 8 p.m. in the November 3 local run-offs, Central Election
Commission (CEC) Spokesperson Alexander Andreev told reporters
on Wednesday. This figure is based on 1,674,147 voters.

The turnout was highest at 83.33 per cent in Georgi Damyanovo
Municipality (Northwestern Bulgaria), followed by Belene
(Northern Bulgaria) with 83.03 per cent. The table is trailed by
 Plovdiv with 28.91 per cent and Varna with 28.97 per cent.

Since the local elections were scheduled, complaints and alerts
(apart from those filed on the two elections days, October 27
and November 3), totalled 348. They break down as follows: 78
against decisions of municipal election commissions, 137 against
 decisions on the registration of parties, coalitions and
independent candidates, 18 requests for a vote re-count (which
were referred to the municipal election commissions and the
administrative courts), and 98 about the election campaign.

On November 3, CEC received 129 complaints and alerts, including
 62 about violations of the Election Day organization rules, 16
about voting rights violations (mostly concerning a lack of
residence qualifications), and 44 alerts about canvassing, 20 of
 which were prompted by exit poll results published while voting
 was under way. CEC found that nine media outlets violated the
law. Seven complaints and alerts about vote-buying were referred
 to the prosecuting magistrates and the Interior Ministry.

Preferences were marked by 1,363,183 voters (44 per cent of the
total) in the municipal councillor elections in the first round.
 In the three largest cities, preferences were marked by 21 per
cent of voters in Sofia, 36 per cent in Plovdiv and 45 per cent
in Varna. Between 40 and 50 per cent of voters in other cities
marked a preference.

Regarding the Socialist Party's demand for a re-count of the
ballots in the northeastern town of Shoumen, where its candidate
 lost to GERB's candidate by a margin of 77 votes and 400
ballots were invalid, Andreev said data re-entry did not show
errors that might change the decisions of the Municipal Election
 Commission. The legality of the mayoral election can be raised
with the administrative court.

As to the tally sheets shown by Maya Manolova, the failed
independent candidate for Sofia mayor backed by the Socialist
Party, they can be used to contest the results before an
administrative court, said Andreev. In a bTV interview on
Wednesday, Manolova showed signed and stamped tally sheets with
blanks where the number of votes for winning candidate Yordanka
Fandakova and herself should have been. Manolova claimed there
was "a huge discrepancy" between the real tally sheets filled in
 by the sectional commissions and those entered on CEC's
website.

Andreev commented that CEC cannot pronounce on these matters
because the Municipal Election Commission announces the results
in a decision, which is subject to judicial control under the
Election Code.

***
 
Interior Minister Mladen Marinov told the Internal Security and
Public Order Committee in Parliament that the number of warnings
 (issued when no data of an offence have been collected)
increased from 1,662 in the 2015 local elections to 2,348 now.
Sixty persons were apprehended and 95 investigations were
launched. RY/DD