site.btaVazrazhdane Calculates between 400,000 and 500,000 Bought Votes

At a press conference in Parliament on Wednesday, Vazrazhdane – Sofia Chair Deyan Nikolov said that bought votes in the October 27 snap parliamentary elections numbered between 400,000 and 500,000.

All but Vazrazhdane are buying votes, some in huge amounts, some in very small amounts, he commented.

Vazrazhdane made a statistical analysis of the deviations in the vote for all parties in the National Assembly and for the Velichie (Grandeur) party, which fell just 21 votes short of the 4% threshold for entering the National Assembly. At the press conference, Vazrazhdane gave examples of sections where there was a sharp drop or increase in votes for a political force in the last elections compared to the previous ones.

Some 90% of the cases with strange anomalies in election results were in villages, pointed out Nikolov.

He commented that these data cannot prove in court that someone bought a vote or that this vote was controlled, but they are grounds for an investigation. “We expect that, based on such analyses, the relevant institutions will be contacted, to investigate and prevent vote-buying in the next elections,” Nikolov said.

Vazrazhdane Deputy chair Petar Petrov said that the party will organize a round table to discuss the need and outline the main changes in the electoral and criminal legislation. He said that they will invite civil organizations and associations, experts on the electoral process, participants in the electoral administration.