Police in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv arrest two with close to 90 000 euro for vote-buying

Police in Bulgaria’s city of Plovdiv arrested two people who were in possession of close to 90 000 euro allegedly to be used for vote-buying ahead of the country’s April 19 early parliamentary elections, Interior Ministry chief secretary Georgi Kandev said in a Facebook post on April 9.

“Yesterday, after receiving an operational signal in Plovdiv that two people were withdrawing large sums of money from a bank branch in order to influence the upcoming elections, we reacted immediately. We organized and conducted a successful police operation,” Kandev said.

The men were tracked down and detained in the parking area of a large retail chain. The money was withdrawn in cash and stuffed into backpacks, he said.

Kandev said tha both have numerous criminal records and convictions, including for money laundering, acquired through criminal means.

A total of 88 720 euro were found during the search.

“This is not an isolated case. There is evidence that these individuals are connected to a large-scale criminal scheme in which there is information about the participation of a large network of people,” he said.

The actions of vote buyers are becoming more and more extensive and cynical, but the Ministry of Interior will not allow the vote of Bulgarian citizens to be replaced, Kandev said.

“The state will not give in to vote buyers!” he said.

In a separate post, Kandev said that on the night of April 8, a special police operation was immediately organised after receiving operational information about prepared buying of votes in the village of Brestnica in the Lovech district.

Kandev said that three people had received significant money in order to be distributed to residents of the Yablanitsa municipality to vote in favour of a “specific political power”.

During the operation, more than 40 000 euros were found in the home of a 53-year-old man. The man was arrested.

On April 8, the Interior Ministry quoted Kandev as saying that as of that date 1271 reports of vote-buying had been received, compared with 234 ahead of the October 2024 parliamentary elections.

A total of 3174 warning protocols were issued compared to 849 for the previous elections, 225 people had been arrested and 362 pre-trial proceedings had been initiated compared to 64 for the previous vote.

Kandev said that the increase is an indicator of increased public trust and expectations for fair elections.

Caretaker Prime Minister Andrei Gyurov, speaking on April 2, said that by point, more than half a million euro had been confiscated in police operations ahead of the parliamentary elections. Along with these sums, police had found lists of names and identity cards, part of vote-buying schemes.

(Photo: Interior Ministry)