Sat, Nov 21 2009

Bulgaria busts vote-buying operation

Fri, Jul 03 2009 18:32 CET 846 Views
Bulgaria busts vote-buying operation

Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry and State Agency for National Security have bust a major criminal organisation trading in votes ahead of the country’s July 5 2009 national parliamentary elections, Bulgarian National Television reported on July 3.
 
Arrests have been made and there would be further arrests.
 
Sofia deputy city prosecutor Roman Vassilev said that the operation against the vote-buying outfit had started about a day before.
 
How many people had been detained and the number of votes bought would not be disclosed for now, Vassilev said, saying that the operation was still in progress.
 
The operation was in connection with the country’s European Parliament elections held in June 2009. It is a sequel to surveillance operations that have lasted some time.
 
The June European Parliament elections in Bulgaria saw a number of mutual accusations among political parties of vote-buying.
 
Election rules compel campaign advertising in this year’s Bulgarian parliamentary contest to say that buying and selling of votes are illegal. The maximum jail sentence for vote-buying in Bulgaria is six years.
 
Dnevnik, quoted Bulgarian news agency Focus, said that four people had been arrested in seven areas of Bulgaria and evidence related to alleged vote-buying confiscated, including identity cards, passports and driving licences.
 
Quoting AFP, Focus said that a court in Plovdiv had given a man a one-year suspended sentence and a 10 000 leva fine for attempted vote-buying. The man was reported to have gone house to house, offering 30 leva a vote on behalf of a "small nationalist formation".
 
The mayor of the village of Banya was given a 10-month suspended sentence and a fine for giving seven voters 10 leva each for their ballots in the European Parliament elections.

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment
Borissov’s party gets 41 per cent – exit poll

Higher-than-expected turnout gives Boiko Borissov’s GERB the largest share of the vote in Bulgaria’s July 5 2009 elections, as predicted, with currently ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party coming in second with 17.9 per cent.

Foreign press ridicules Bulgaria's electoral process

Foreign press remark on corruption in Bulgaria and note the absurdity of alleged criminals running for high office.

Bulgaria’s MEP elections: Vote-buying and mud-slinging

Mutual finger-pointing among parties leaves few exempt from allegations of vote-buying; electoral commission says all reports have been forwarded to law enforcement authorities.

More in this category

EC suing Bulgaria for Sofia waste disposal failure

The European Commission is taking Bulgaria to court for delays in providing Sofia with adequate waste disposal facilities.

US ambassador-designate Warlick addresses senate confirmation hearing

James Warlick is the spouse of Mary Warlick, director of the office of Russian affairs at the US state department, who has been nominated to serve as ambassador to Serbia

Bulgaria declares flu epidemic at an end

Bulgaria’s Health Ministry announced on November 20 2009 that the flu epidemic declared two weeks earlier is at an end as rates of infection decline. The announcement coincides with reports of two deaths from A (H1N1) flu in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian prosecutors to investigate Dogan’s real estate deals

Acting on allegations by Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov, prosecutors and Government officials are to probe deals by which Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Ahmed Dogan acquired various properties.

Sofia prosecutors charge Bulgaria’s former defence minister Nikolai Tsonev

Prosecutors allege that a deal agreed by the former defence minister caused losses of 12.9 million leva.