Problems during the municipal elections on October 28 ranged from a lack of voting ballots and vote-buying to accusations of transparent ballots which did not protect voters' secrecy of vote.
Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said on October 28 that vote-buying in these elections could not be ignored. In total, he said, 66 warnings had been received by the Interior Ministry, of which so far 16 had led to written statements.
Interior Minster Roumen Petkov said "society needs to think about where this is going." It was the first time there had been no tolerance for vote-buying, Petkov said. As a consequence, it had been the first elections with arrests, the first elections where people would be prosecuted and the first elections where the police had knowledge about roughly 30 cases of vote-buying, he said.
A new country had emerged as a source of election tourism, Stanishev said. According to estimates, about 2 800 Macedonians had crossed the border, in order to cast their votes. Most had travelled to Blagoevgrad and Sandanski, Stanishev said.
Tourism from Turkey for the period around the elections had been up with 8 500 to 10 000 visitors, Stanishev added.
In Sandanski and the town of Stemenshitsa near Petrich, voting was interrupted as polling stations ran out of ballots. New ballots were brought to the stations, after which voting resumed later in the evening.
In several places in Bulgaria vote-buying was reported, a vote was said to cost between 20 and 100 leva.
In Topolovgrad, two people were arrested, who offered 80 leva per vote, and a third was arrested for offering money for votes in Blagoevgrad, Dnevnik daily said.
In the Izgrev neighbourhood in Bulgaria's eastern town of Dobrich, Roma's threatened to boycott the elections after a row over vote-buying accusations the night before elections. A man was reportedly going from door to door, offering 20 leva per vote. Police arrested the man, but soon after released him again.
In the town of Silistra, police started an preliminary investigation was started against a man for handing out 250 bags of flour in the Roma neighbourhood of Karoto. In Haraya, sausages had been handed out with party stickers, Bulgarian National Television said.
In Razgrad, a statement was drawn up against a woman who had taken a picture of her vote with a mobile phone. The witness who saw her take the picture also would also be punished for entering the voting booth, Dnevnik said.
Both Ataka and the election team of Martin Zaimov announced they would file a complaint with the Central Election Committee (CEC) for violation of the secrecy of voting because the thin paper used for the ballots.
To BNT, Volen Siderov, leader of Ataka, said "this is something scandalous for Sofia. We do not see leaders of other political parties. It's a scandal that should not be skipped over as something minor; it's affecting the whole country. Which firm made these ballots? Ballots should be indestructible. Gypsy votes are being bought."
In the days before the elections more busses than usual arrived from Turkey in Bulgaria. Bulgarians, who live in Turkey, came to visit family and cast their ballot. From Kurdzjali, around 20 busses were expected to leave for Turkey again in the evening of October 28, BNT said.
Voters have been said to be requesting stamps from the committees in the polling stations on their international passports or bus tickets for the return trip from Turkey, as a confirmation that they had voted. Complaints against this have been filed in Dobrich, Haskovo, Ihtiman and Novi Pazar, spokesperson for the CEC Aleksandur Aleksandrov said.
In Rouse the chairperson of the CEC was reliefed from his function for placing stamps on international passports.
Punishment for placing these stamps was a fine of up to 5 000 leva, CEC said.
