site.btaMachine Voting Dropped from October 29 Local Elections after Row over Software Security Breach

Bulgaria's Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday voted, 12-2, to decide that only paper ballots will be used at the October 29 local elections and in a possible second round of voting on November 5.

CEC reasoned its decision by the impossibility to equip voting sections with devices certified by a decision of the Ministry of Electronic Governance, the Bulgarian Institute of Metrology and the Bulgarian Institute for Standardization, which is a mandatory condition set by the Election Code for the use of machine voting.

The Commission said that it had received a letter from Electronic Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski to the effect that a decision certifying the devices had not been issued yet.

The proposal to exclude the machines came from CEC member Emil Voinov, who said that information from the State Agency for National Security (SANS) was received on October 26 in connection with the proposal made on the manner of voting.

Another member, Tsvetozar Tomov, suggested that Yolovski be given two hours until 10 p.m. to say whether compliance of the machine-voting devices with the requirements of the Election Code and the technical specification will be certified.

Tomov noted that the problem is that "CEC found itself in the position of an institution which subjugates its decisions to the will of sundry political factors" and that he cannot agree with that.

"This was a very difficult decision because I have always backed machine voting as a voting method. What matters most is to trust the balloting process and any action, no matter who takes it, which breeds distrust and puts off voters, must be blocked," said CEC Chair Kamelia Neykova. In her words, "precisely by this decision CEC succeeded in minimizing risks of preventing voters from going to the polls." She insisted that CEC had nothing to do with "today's shameful situation".

Non-governmental organizations that are part of the Public Council with CEC issued a position saying that "the public tensions triggered by machine voting breed distrust of the balloting process."

Security Service Reports Security Breach

CEC's decision came after There Is Such a People (TISP) and Vazrazhdane claimed in the morning that the voting machines were compromised. TISP Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov told journalists in Parliament that, according to a report from SANS, on which the floor leaders were briefed at a meeting with the National Assembly chair and deputy chairs, two days after CEC had generated a hash code in a public event, Deputy Electronic Governance Minister Mihail Stoynov entered the room, repeated the whole procedure, took pictures with his phone, and downloaded the information on a memory stick. 

In a press release, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov demanded Stoynov's resignation and immediate arrest, and Yordanov argued, too, that the Deputy Minister must be arrested and investigated by prosecutors in connection with a possible coup plot.

Minister: Voting Security Guaranteed

Electronic Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski: The voting machines function like printers: they will print out a receipt which shows every vote. Eight voting machines were drawn at random for a compliance check on October 9, the compliance check methodology was approved on October 20, CEC experts installed the software in a controlled environment in the presence of  representatives of four parliamentary parties. A hash code was generated as part of this process. This cryptographic key is used to sign the software. No other software can go on the voting machines unless signed with this key. The software itself is locked with a key that is generated with the passwords of three CEC members who are from the quotas of different parties. The key is kept at CEC, on a laptop, in the cashier's office. The three members' passwords were entered on the spot, immediately after the completion of the software installation, personally by each of them. This ensured that no arbitrary software could be put on the voting machines to alter the results. The software was installed on all machines and the devices were sent out to the voting sections for Sunday's elections. After the hash code generation, it was publicly shown to the press and is currently public. On October 23, representatives of the registered parties and coalitions were given full access to the voting machine software source code in a secure environment. After the end of the procedure, all physical media used for the code review were duly destroyed. The process of certifying voting machines' conformity with the legal requirements has no impact on the election process. On September 19, Stoyanov was authorized to exercise all rights, duties and powers of Yolovski in relation to the voting machines certification until the end of the month.

Prime Minister: Opposition Eager to Topple Cabinet

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov (commenting to Bulgarian journalists in Brussels): The whole situation is being used once again to call machine voting into question. The opposition obviously wants very much to use the situation as a new pretext to bring down the Government. We know that GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) have wanted to remove the machines for a long time, for them this might be a convenient way to make it happen. Without CEC, nothing can be changed on the machines. That is why I say that there is a lot of fuss but little substance in these accusations. Politicians in the National Assembly must decide whether they want us to continue along the path we have been on so far.

Ruling Majority Leaders: Don't Fall for Fake News

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Co-Floor Leader Kiril Petkov: All kinds of voting manipulations have already been seen. What happened today is that they went too far. When everyone is talking against CC-DB in one voice, that means the right things are being done still. Then, we are still on the right path to change.

CC-DB Co-Floor Leader Hristo Ivanov: We realize that Bulgaria must have a government. Until that government is possible, we will have to shoulder that responsibility. (Asked if they will replace Deputy Electronic Governance Minister Stoynov): This is a question for Prime Minister Denkov. We don't carry out investigations, there are authorities we urge to calmly conduct a check.

Bozhidar Bozhanov MP of CC-DB and former electronic governance minister: What the Deputy Minister did could be part of the regular process involving the voting machines. That will be established by those tasked with the relevant investigation.

CC-DB Co-Floor Leader and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Atanas Atanasov: GERB is losing the local elections in Sofia and in other cities, so they came up with this "fake news" together with the MRF. People should vote on Sunday and not fall for fake news. The credibility of the SANS report is dubious, considering that it was signed by the institution's deputy chair and not by the chair himself.

Finance Minister and Continue the Change Co-Leader Assen Vassilev (commenting on several parliamentary parties' call to scrap machine voting for the October 29 local elections over security concerns): I see no reason for that. This is up to the CEC to decide, the Government does not have a say in the matter. As far as I understand, someone took a picture with a phone of how the machines function. I don't see how this can threaten the voting process. Machines do not count any votes at present. They just print out paper ballots, which will later be counted manually. They are basically printers: you see your paper ballot and what is printed out on it. There is no way you can be cheated or someone miscounting any votes. Paper ballot voting has always been problematic, as it enables vote buying and makes possible errors in the tally sheets which are sometimes made deliberately. The Interior Ministry was quite active. CC has submitted many alerts about vote-buying. I think we had information about large organized groups in probably 30 settlements which we have reported to the Interior Ministry, and they have followed up on the alerts.

GERB: Unprecedented Scandal

GERB leader Boyko Borissov: There is a Central Election Commission (CEC) that has been elected by other majorities long before us: whatever it decides, we reckon with them. Nobody asked him [Mihail Stoynov] to take pictures, so that we would be blamed afterwards. We did not take any pictures, we don't have the codes. I, GERB and the MRF have nothing to do with the scandal. If somebody breaks the rules, let them take the responsibility. That GERB should be blamed for this is shocking because we decided against attending Friday's planned plenary sitting of the National Assembly even though I tried to persuade Kiril Petkov to attend the sitting and override a presidential veto on Energy Act amendments.

GERB Floor Leader Desislava Atanasova: This is an unprecedented scandal, a cabinet member picked by the party that was mandated to form the cabinet saying that this same party is pressuring him (referring to CC-DB).

Peevski: Either Remove Machines or Cancel Elections
 
MRF Co-Floor Leader Delyan Peevski: Sunday's local elections must be annulled across the country unless a way is found to eliminate voting machines because they have been compromised. What is happening is unheard of in Bulgarian history. There are only two options in this situation: either remove the machines from the voting process or cancel the October 29 elections.

Socialists: Postponing Polls Unacceptable

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Chair and BSP for Bulgaria Floor Leader Korneliya Ninova: The Socialists believe that the October 29 local elections can be manipulated through the voting machines. The SANS report confirms our suspicions that the vote can be manipulated through the machines, a suspicion which we have had for over a year and have been vocal about. The BSP had long suspected that its results in the last elections had been altered through tampering with the voting machines. What we found out raises the question of whether the elections are fair and transparent, on which we insist. We expect CEC to decide what should be done from now on, but we consider it unacceptable that the elections should be postponed, rescheduled or whatever. The elections should be held with the utmost integrity and transparency, but suspicions linger. We were left with the impression that it is possible that what you voted for may differ from what the paper copy of the ballot which the voting machine prints out. We respect the institutions in Bulgaria and believe that they are staffed by professionals. They should say what the best thing to do is so that not a single vote is rigged.