site.btaInterior Ministry, Prosecution Service, National Security Agency to Ensure Fairness of Local Election Runoff

In a video address released Friday, Interior Ministry Secretary General Zhivko Kotsev said that his Ministry, the prosecution service and the State Agency for National Security will harness all their resources and exercise all their legal powers to make sure the second round of the local elections on November 5 is fair. "We will not tolerate any election legislation violations," he added.

Kotsev noted that an analysis has been made of all places at risk of election irregularities and voting sections where election violations have been reported so far and the police presence there will be increased. Over 10,000 police officers will take care of public order on the day of the runoff.

A total of 2,168 alerts of violations of the election legislation and citizens' political rights have been received by Friday, which were 86.4% more than the 1,163 alerts received at the previous local elections in 2019 and represented a 2.7-fold increase from the 813 alerts at the 2023 parliamentary elections, the Interior Ministry said.

The overwhelming majority of the alerts, 1,161, concerned vote buying, 652 were about other violations, 292 were about illegal canvassing, 43 about property damage, and 20 about corporate voting.

A total of 192 pretrial proceedings have been initiated in connection with the election violations, up from 76 in the 2019 local elections and 151 in the 2023 parliamentary elections. A total 117 people were detained for 24 hours and 2,869 cautions were issued.

Election violations can be reported on a 24-hour hotline at +3592 90 112 98 and at email: izbori@mvr.bg.