Central Election Commission: Changes to Election Code are needed for use of mobile ballot boxes and postal voting

Law changes are needed if in the upcming parleimentary elections we want to use mobile ballot boxes and mobile polling commissions, as well as voting by post, the Head of the Central Election Commission Alexander Andreev said on January 8 at the next round of consultations on the election process with President Rumen Radev and Vice President Iliana Yotova.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the General Directorate for Civil Registration and Administrative Services, the National Statistical Institute, the Bulgarian Institute for Standardization and the State Agency for Electronic Governance.

At the beginning of the meeting, the President asked questions arising from the series of consultations he had held in the recent days on the upcoming election arrangements. He reiterated that preserving the health of the people and guaranteeing the constitutional right to vote of every Bulgarian is a top priority of the presidential institution, and voting machines should be used where the polling stations include more than 300 people on the lists of voters.

"The goal is to preserve people's health, to guarantee the reliability of machine voting and to guarantee the right to vote to all Bulgarians, including those abroad," Radev said.

The President asked the CEC for an opinion on whether law changes were needed in order for Bulgarians abroad to be allowed postal voting. as it happened in Romania, and it turned out that those who cast their vote by post were much more than those who voted in the usual way.

He also asked if it was possible to ensure the right to vote for everyne placed under quarantine by the use of mobile polling stations, mobile ballot boxes. He received a definite answer to both questions from CEC Chairman Alexander Andreev that this was not possible.

“In order to arrange for citizens under quarantine to cast their vote in mobile ballot boxes, amendments to the Electoral Code are needed," Andreev said.

Amendments to the Electoral Code will also be needed to allow for postal voting. Currently, the option for mobile ballot boxes is possible only for citizens with permanent disabilities due to which they cannot appear in-person in the polling station, the Head of CEC informed.

"The CEC works consistently, within its competence, on the arrangements for holding these elections. We are informed about the practice in other countries where there is a tradition of postal voting or there is already some experience. In order for postal voting to take place, there should be a current address, to which the necessary electoral papers should be sent. They must arrive earlier in order to be processed simultaneously with the results from the ballots cast in the polling sections," Alexander Andreev explained.

"We are talking about serious changes and readjustment of the Electoral Code, which is a matter for the legislator. Building trust requires clear messages about the conditions under which people will exercise their voting rights. The messages should be based on the current legislation. Efforts are required from everyone," he appealed.

Andreev proposed that the upcoming election process be organized within the framework of the existing legislation.

Radev also asked if the election day could be extended. Both he and the CEC chairman pointed out that the most important thing in the upcoming elections is to ensure their transparency.

"Yesterday while watching some TV coverages I was surprised when I heard that the President proposed the idea of ​​voting to take place over two days. The idea has already been discussed in some TV programmes.., Let's be clear. I stated very clearly that I received ideas and proposals for voting.to be held over two days and it is natural for me to share them with the mayors. It is not my idea. I know what this would mean, but let it be discussed, because there are people who think this way "Let's see what the mayors would say about possible problems if we go ahead with the option of having the elections held on two days instead of one. The President has not launched such an idea," Radev was firm.

"The most important thing for of all of us, and for CEC, is the public trust in the election process and this public trust in the elections and in the bodies that organize it, first of all with the CEC and the entire election administration, is related to the fact that the CEC as a state body is required to guarantee the constitutional rights of voters, ie all Bulgarian citizens to be able to exercise their voting rights," Andreev said.

The series of consultations began on Tuesday. The head of state first met with representatives of the health authorities. The talks aimed to outline measures to ensure the right to vote and the health of citizens.

Yesterday the head of state talked with representatives of the Public Council at the Central Election Commission, as well as with the leadership of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria.

In the coming days, President Radev and Vice President Yotova will hold consultations with non-parliamentary political forces, and then with parliamentary ones.

images by BGNES

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