Yes Bulgaria party sends authorities 200 names of alleged vote-buyers
The Yes Bulgaria political party, part of the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition, said on October that it had sent a report containing a list of 200 names of vote-buyers to the Interior Ministry, State Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor’s Office.
The move comes ahead of Bulgaria’s early parliamentary elections, to be held on October 27.
Yes Bulgaria said that the names had been reported in the media following an announcement by the informal group BG Elves.
“The BG Elves lists detail the individuals by area of the country with their first and last names, as well as the nicknames by which they are known in society,” Yes Bulgaria said.
The information also includes data related to the circumstances of which political force these persons are representatives and, respectively, vote buyers, it said.
The party quoted Bulgaria’s Criminal Procedure Code, saying that the publication of the lists should result in an official investigation and possible pre-trial proceedings.
“The published names are a real threat to national security in view of trampling on the democratic principles of the rule of law,” Yes Bulgaria said.
“The lack of reaction on the part of the Bulgarian institutions is absolutely unacceptable in view of the risks to which the national security and the fairness of the current elections are placed. There are grounds for a full, comprehensive and objective investigation, on which there should be a public report in the shortest possible time,” it said.
Yes Bulgaria’s announcement comes a few days after WCC-DB election candidate Ivailo Mirchev published on Facebook identities of people that he said were vote-buyers.
Since Bulgaria’s official election campaign period began on September 27, there have been periodic announcements of arrests for vote-buying.
In the past day, these have included 10 people arrested in Bulgarian capital city Sofia’s Hristo Botev neighbourhood and three people in the Bourgas district. In the latter case, according to police, the sums involved 100 to 150 leva for a vote.
The most high-profile case so far in these elections, and the only one with a named individual and electoral coalition, is that of Dzheyhan Ibryamov, a candidate for the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, Ahmed Dogan’s electoral coalition that is a rival to Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms-New Beginning electoral coalition.
Ibryamov has been remanded in custody pending trial.
(Archive photo: Interior Ministry)
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