site.btaUPDATED Parliament Chair Zhelyazkov Votes for Sofia to Live Up to Its Motto "Ever Growing, Never Aging"

"I voted for development in the city where I was born, in the city where I have chosen to live and work," Parliament Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov told journalists after he voted in Sofia. He added that he had voted for Sofia to live up to its motto: "Ever growing, never aging". 

At least two generations back, or those who have come to live in Sofia in recent years, do not remember what the city was like when it had no transport infrastructure, no engineering infrastructure, no disposal system for household waste. Now the city is fulfilling the content of its motto, Zhelyazkov said and thanked former mayor Yordanka Fandakova who, in his words, has been principled and consistent and has substantially performed her function as mayor.

Asked whether the lack of machine voting would affect the election process, he said he does not think so because voters are people and not means to a vote. "Voters should be guaranteed the constitutional four principles of universal, direct, equal and confidential right to vote. I think regardless of the means, this thing will be guaranteed and we will have elections that will result in the election of worthy representatives of local government," he said.

"I think it is the responsibility of the political parties and coalitions in parliament to sit down and talk about serious changes to the Election Code," he said, adding that the issue of technical means of voting should be cleared up and resolved, and not a cause for further division. "Elections are still to come, whether or not they will be snap elections, but for sure, we will have European elections next year. And this issue must be resolved not before the elections, but this year," Zhelyazkov said. 

"Our commitment is to create the normative prerequisite after the elections for a better voting environment and to dispel all possible allegations in one direction or the other - regarding the means of voting," he said, refusing to comment on the SANS report.