ELECTION BOARD TO RECOMMEND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ELECTION SYSTEM

At the final meeting of the Civic Board for Free and Transparent Elections, held on 13th of October, the caretaker Prime Minister, Prof. Georgi Bliznashki, stated that a radical change in the election law could happen only after a referendum. According to him, the people must have their say over the idea about mixed election system where half of the MPs are elected by majority vote and the other half by proportional representation. He noted that the idea of introducing compulsory voting should also be subjected to a referendum. As regards electronic voting, he said it should be first introduced to Bulgarians abroad.

At the meeting, Deputy Interior Minister, Philip Gunev, said that the Ministry of Interior (MoI) was strongly politicized and was under the control of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. According to Gunev, this leads to serious problems in investigating buying and selling of votes. He said that the two previous governments replaced regional directors of the MoI though political appointments.

Gunev said that the MoI received over 87o signals for electoral violations, whilst the pre-court investigations were only 80. Within a week, the Election Board will come up with recommendations for improvements of the Electoral Code.

The leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Lyutvi Mestan, rejected the allegations that MoI was under the Control of MRF, saying that MRF did not have participation in the MoI.