site.btaInterior Ministry Receives Nearly 200 Alerts on Vote Buying, Minister Says

The Interior Ministry has received nearly 200 alerts for vote-buying and 70 pre-trial proceedings have been initiated for crimes against the political rights of citizens, according to the data presented by caretaker Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov on the results of the actions taken by the Interior Ministry against crimes related to the political rights of citizens. He stressed that the figures are dynamic and constantly changing.

The total number of tip-offs received by the Interior Ministry is over 250, of which three are for corporate voting, 10 - for illegal campaigning, and those without evidence of a crime - 149.

A total of 189 specialized operations have been carried out. The number of persons warned under the Ministry of Interior Act is nearly 900, and the number of persons arrested under pre-trial proceedings is 36.

Ilkov noted that the focus of his Ministry's work is also countering the production and distribution of drugs, illegal migration, smuggling of excise goods, road safety and domestic crime.

The Minister reported on two recently dismantled drug laboratories in the seaside cities of Burgas and Varna. With regard to the fight against excise smuggling, he highlighted a police operation and the discovery of a cigarette factory with a machine that produces 2,800 cigarettes per minute.

Asked to comment personnel changes in the Interior Ministry departments, the Minister said that changes are made wherever people are found to be inefficient. He denied any connection between recent changes at the Internal Security Department and the October 27 elections.

The Minister dismissed the calls for his resignation by the anti-corruption organization BOEC and said that their accusations are ungrounded.

BOEC announced that they were submitting a tip-off to the State Agency for National Security, the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office, the Interior Ministry, Parliament and the President, where they say that Ilkov is covering up alerts for buying votes for the MRF-New Beginning of Delyan Peevski. Also, they are calling "an umbrella protest" on October 22 against the umbrella that they say the Interior Minister has put up for vote-buying.