Three arrested for alleged vote-buying

Three men from Haskovo region (Southern Bulgaria) were arrested for alleged vote-buying. Days before the parliamentary elections, they have been detained with lists of 28,000 voters, confirmed caretaker Minister of interior, Boyko Rashkov, on July 5.

According to him, there is data that they provided votes in the previous elections, and were preparing for the vote on Sunday. Most likely, these votes were paid for, Rashkov pointed out and named the specific party – GERB (a partner from the former ruling coalition), for which, according to initial data, the votes were intended.

The head of the national police, Stanimir Stanev, announced that the detained were from a family – two brothers and the son of one of them.

Caretaker Minister of Interior, Boyko Rashkov added that 28,000 voters according to initial information were used in the previous elections on April 4 and there was preparation for the same people to be used for the upcoming elections.

GERB announced that this was "a rude pre-election manipulation of Rumen Radev's election headquarters, in the face of the caretaker cabinet". They said it was time for Boyko Rashkov to stop telling stories and start proving his allegations.

The Ministry of Interior is also working on attempts for vote rigging through use of mobile polling stations. The ministry said the campaign against vote-buying would continue until Sunday, July 11, the election day.