Police operations against vote-buying in Bourgas, Kyustendil and Plovdiv

A specialised police operation to counter crime and vote-buying took place in the districts of Bourgas, Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad on September 26.

11 people have been detained in the coastal region of Bourgas, 8 fast-track police proceedings and 7 files have been opened. Five of them have been charged with kidnapping. Two others arrested in Primorsko are being investigated for vote buying.

"The room where they live was found to have a large amount of money, drugs. As the amount of money that was found, it is being clarified whether there is any connection with buying votes for the upcoming October 2 elections," said Commissioner Marin Dimitrov, head of the Security Police Department-Bourgas.

Twelve people in Blagoevgrad district were warned by a police protocol to comply with the election legislation. Residents of Kyustendil's "Iztok" residential district told us that in previous elections they had heard about vote-trading, but now no one offered them money to vote.

In the region of Plovdiv, the operation covered vulnerable neighbourhoods and residential suburbs in several municipalities. Shop owners in Perushtitsa were surprised by the police check and explained that they do not give goods on credit and no one has visited them for electioneering so far.

"We decide on our own what we can do, if we want we will vote, if not, we will not vote," said Assen Hristev, a vendor.

During the police operation, there were also opened cases of possession of excise goods without an excise label.