AGENTS EVERYWHERE
Two members of the Central Election Committee (CEC) collaborated with the communist-era secret services, the commission for declassification of the secret services archives said on October 23. The two are Roumen Elenski and Tsvetozariya Yosifova-Krusteva. Yosifova-Krusteva was a secret collaborator and had agent status. She worked for the services until 1990. Elenski was on the staff of the services. In 1982, he became an intelligence agent and in 1985 was sent to the KGB school in the USSR. In 1989, he became a senior intelligence agent. The National Movement for Stability and Progress, formerly the National Movement Simeon II, nominated Yosifova-Krusteva to the CEC in 2003, while Elenski was nominated by the Bulgarian Socialist Party in 2005. The CEC said that the pasts of Elenski and Yosifova-Krustev had nothing to do with their current duties and there was no reason why they should leave the CEC.
WATCH OUT
Transparency Without Borders urged Bulgaria’s public institutions involved with the organisation and holding of the elections to undertake urgent measures to prevent, investigate and penalise attempts at violating the fairness of the elections, vote buying and compromising the secrecy of the ballot, thus influencing whole groups of voters. This was said in an open letter to President Georgi Purvanov, Speaker of Parliament Georgi Pirinski, Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev and Interior Minister Roumen Petkov.
POLICE SUPPORT
A total of 1785 police officers will provide security in Sofia on election night on October 28. Access by and parking of motor vehicles around the National Palace of Culture (NDK), location of the election media centre, will be limited.
MEDIA SUPPORT
Six hundred sixty-seven journalists, photographers and camera people from 67 media have been accredited to the International Press Centre at Sofia’s National Palace of Culture (NDK). Journalists from Reuters, Agence France Presse and Associated Press will be present as well.
THE GOVERNMENT SAYS
The 30-minute Election Night news conferences will start in Hall 6 at 9.30pm on October 28 in the following order, as determined by the Government: first, the parties represented in Parliament: Bulgarian Socialist Party, National Movement for Stability and Progress, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Union of Democratic Forces, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, ultra-nationalist Ataka, Bulgarian People’s Union, the Democratic Party and Gergyovden movement. Last will be the party not represented in Parliament; the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) led by current Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov.
GERB SAYS
In a declaration issued on October 19, a day after the Government decided that the parties would hold their news conferences in a descending order corresponding to the number of their MPs, GERB said that it gave up the right to hold a news conference at NDK on October 28. This might result in GERB giving an alternative news conference while the other parties give theirs.
100 PER CENT SALES
All copies of the October 23 of the Peshterska Maritsa, a local Bulgarian-language newspaper, were sold out. The issue included a transcript of the October 20 edition of Radio Focus – Pazardjik’s Metronom programme. On October 20, Peshterska Maritsa Editor-in-Chief Dimiter Mouletarov apologised to Focus news agency for publishing an open letter from Peshtera mayoral candidate Stelyan Varsanov that defamed the agency. The buy-out of the newest issues of the local daily was organised by activists from Varsanov’s campaign office ahead of the municipal elections, Focus news agency said.
IN ADVANCE
The unit of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in Dupnitsa, southern Bulgaria, and its candidate for mayor Purvan Dangov, complained to various authorities because of a October 23 controversy about ballot papers found in a motor vehicle in Dupnitsa. On October 23, it was reported that a large amount of ballot paper copies had been distributed in Dupnitsa. The ballot papers had ticks against the names of two candidate mayors: Atanas Yanev, and Daniela Godinova, nominated by the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria and National Movement for Stability and Progress, respectively.
AGAINST THE LAW
The National Movement for Rights and Freedoms (not to be confused with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a member of the ruling national coalition Cabinet) was fined by the Municipal Election Committee in Plovdiv on October 20 for distributing election posters in Turkish, a breach of the law that requires campaigning to be done solely in Bulgarian. The posters, posted in the Adjisan Mahala area in Plovdiv, depicted a little girl wearing a scarf and reading the Koran with a mosque as a background. Putting religious symbols on election materials is also against the law. All the posters were ordered destroyed.
VARNA BAROMETER
Current Varna mayor Kiril Yordanov enjoyed the greatest support for a third consecutive term, a survey by the controversial Barometer Info (BI) polling agency said on October 20. BI was accused by all the other polling agencies of incompetence and lack of transparency in its methods. According to BI, 34.97 per cent of Varna residents supported Yordanov, while the right-wing Dimo Gyaurov had 12.27 per cent. A total of 33.95 of the 489 people interviewed between October 15-20 said they would not vote on October 28.
PLOVDIV BAROMETER
Slavcho Atanasov, candidate for Plovdiv mayor was ahead of all the other candidates with 38.5 per cent of public support, Barometer Info survey showed. Atanasov was nominated by Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO) and supported by Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov. Second after Atanasov was Bulgarian Socialist Party candidate Zahari Georgiev with 10.96 per cent and third was the right-wing Nikolai Karaivanov with 3.53 per cent. Out of the 511 people interviewed between October 15-20, 34.44 per cent said they were not going to vote.
* Visit www.sofiaecho.com on October 28 for unfolding coverage of the municipal elections results.
