site.btaInterior Ministry Receives 984 Reports of Election Violations by End of October

By the end of October, the Interior Ministry received 984 reports of violations of the electoral legislation and the political rights of citizens, indicated a report on the activities of the ministry to ensure fair and transparent parliamentary elections on October 27, 2024, published on the website of the institution.

The report also stated that of all the alerts received, 724 were related to buying votes in favour of political parties or coalitions, 80 to illegal campaigning, 14 to destruction of property, three to corporate voting and 163 to other violations related to the electoral process. A total of 1,934 warning protocols were drawn up and 73 persons were detained, 128 pre-trial proceedings were instituted.

Compared to the same period in the elections held on June 9, 2024, the alerts received were 58.2% more, the proceedings initiated were 24.3% more, the detainees were 9% more, and the warning protocols were 37, 9% more, the report also indicated.

The majority of alerts and better results during this campaign were mainly due to the citizen initiative and intolerance to buying and selling of votes, as well as the increased activity of the Ministry of Interior officials, the Interior Ministry said.

The State Agency for National Security (SANS) also published a report on the implementation of the legal requirements related to the early parliamentary elections, which states that SANS has not acquired information about targeted actions by external factors to interfere in the electoral process, as well as about intentions or about specific encroachments against the constitutionally established order in the context of the elections, including by members and sympathizers of extremist organizations and groups.

At the moment, no activity aimed at interfering and/or damaging the information systems of institutions related to the conduct of the elections has been identified, the report also stated. In the context of the elections for the National Assembly and partial local elections, according to information provided by SANS, two pre-trial proceedings and four inspections were initiated. Two of the inspections did not lead to pre-trial proceedings, and one of them was closed with a warning protocol.