site.btaPolice in Burgas Arrest Nine People in Vote Buying Clampdown

Nine people were arrested Monday in the first couple of hours of a police clampdown on vote buying in Burgas ahead of the 2-in-1 elections to the European Parliament and the Bulgarian legislature on June 9. The law enforcement operation is led by the Burgas Regional Prosecution Office, according to the head of the Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry in Burgas, Senior Commissioner Emil Pavlov, who spoke at an extraordinary briefing.

The authorities have checked 17 addresses and instituted pretrial proceedings in seven cases. Pavlov does not rule out the possibility that the number of suspects may increase by the end of the day on Monday.

Vote buying methods involve debt cancellation or paying money in exchange for voting for a specified political party or marking a preference for a given candidate. A vote may "cost" between BGN 50 and BGN 100, Pavlov explained.

He said: "The police have so far received 25 alerts relevant to the upcoming elections. Most of the tipoffs concern neighbourhoods of concentrated Roma population. They are about people making lists of individuals who are supposed to vote for a specified candidate or party."

Regional Prosecutor Maria Markova added that prosecutors are supervising pretrial proceedings in seven cases reported in the Gorno Ezerovo quarter of the city of Burgas. Charges will be brought against suspects if enough evidence of wrongdoing is collected.

The buying of votes carries, on conviction, between one and six years' imprisonment. A vote buyers' list can be considered physical evidence of offence, Markova said.