Sat, Feb 11 2012

20% of Bulgarian voters ready to sell their vote

Fri, Jun 05 2009 10:27 CET

byRene Beekman

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20% of Bulgarian voters ready to sell their vote

Photo: Krassimir Yuskeseliev

A survey by Open Society Foundation, published only days before the country goes to vote for the EU parliament, found 20 per cent of Bulgarians ready to sell their vote, although only six per cent would vote as instructed.

Of those interviewed in the survey, around 10 per cent said they would take the money and vote with their own conscience anyway. Another five per cent said they would take the money and not vote at all, the survey found.

Thirteen per cent of those interviewed by Open Society said they did not know how they would react if they were made an offer.

The survey was part of a campaign against vote-selling by Civic Coalition for Free and Democratic Elections I Choose, held under the motto "If you sell your vote, you sell yourself. Don't be for sale."

"Vote-buying was only part of political corruption associated with opaque financing of parties," Katia Hristova from Transparency International was quoted by Sega as saying.

The survey found that a quarter of Bulgarians thought that severe financial sanctions were the best remedy against vote-buying, while six per cent said the practice was completely normal and should not be punished. Another five per cent though that no measure would be effective against the practice.

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