site.btaCaretaker Cabinet Members Brief PACE Representatives on Measures Taken to Ensure Security, Transparency of Sunday's Vote

The caretaker Cabinet has taken unprecedented measures to ensure the security and transparency of Sunday’s snap parliamentary vote, caretaker Minister of Innovation and Growth Rosen Karadimov, who is coordinating the implementation of the activities for the organizational and technical preparation of the elections, told representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by the caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Kondov and the caretaker Minister of e-Government Valentin Mundrov, the press centre of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth said.

The Government's commitments for the material and technical support of the parliamentary elections are being implemented publicly, transparently and on time, Karadimov assured. The Cabinet is in constant dialogue with the Central Election Commission (CEC), he added. The Innovation Minister said these were the most closely scrutinized elections so far. Karadimov stressed that the number of certified voting machines is many times higher than in previous elections. For the first time, at the insistence of the executive, the CEC allowed media representatives into the warehouse to store the machines during the inspections, he said.

During the meeting with the PACE delegates, the Government's proposals to the CEC for upgrading the rules and procedures to ensure transparent and democratic voting were presented. It was noted that the Public Council of the CEC highly appreciated the measures taken by the State administration.

Fifty Information Technology specialists from the State administration have been provided and they have certified significantly more voting machines – 3,306 machines verified compared to 664 at the last elections, the press release said. It added that the State Agency for National Security (SANS) again provided observers in the authentication process.

During the meeting, it was pointed out that the Ministry of e-Governance has upgraded the process of real-time video surveillance and video recording after the end of the election day at the Sectional Election Committees (SECs).

The PACE delegation was also informed about the requested assistance of the CEC for the destruction by the municipal and regional administrations of the machine voting paper from previous elections and the public position of the BNB Printing House that the paper for these elections meets all requirements. The Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Services has verified the voters' lists in time, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth said.

By order of the caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, the Ministry of Interior created the necessary organization to protect public order and ensure the security of the electoral process and to prevent and counteract crimes. More than 15,000 Interior Ministry employees have been deployed to guard the election commissions, and an additional 453 employees to guard public order. The National Inter-agency Unit between the Prosecution Service, the Ministry of Interior and the SANS has been established to coordinate and interact between the institutions to ensure the legality of the elections, the Ministry further informed. The press release also noted the opening of a 24-hour telephone line for alerts related to violations of the electoral process. As of Friday, 512 alerts on violation of electoral legislation had been received, of which 408 were related to vote buying. According to data presented to PACE, 1 450 warning reports have been issued, 110 pre-trial proceedings have been initiated and 51 persons have been detained.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has fulfilled all commitments on time. Election papers and materials were successfully prepared and transported. The organization of the CEC's Communication Centre, which receives, processes and sends to the Commission after election day the minutes of the work of the CECs abroad, was optimized. A total of 719 polling stations have been opened in 57 countries, the press release further said.

With regard to voting in detention facilities, delegates were informed that 26 polling stations had been opened, with only four detention facilities not expected to form polling stations due to the small number of detainees - below the legal minimum of 10 people to form a polling station. Normally, more than 97% of persons in detention actually exercise their right to vote, the ministry added.

The PACE delegation is visiting Bulgaria to observe the conduct of the snap parliamentary elections. International election observers provide additional guarantees of the fairness of the vote, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth said. They were briefed in detail on the fulfilled commitments of all responsible ministries on the organizational and technical preparations.