Daniel Alexandrov, Coordinator of NM ‘Bulgaria is You!’ in Sofia, about the Electoral Process
May 15, 2013, 14:46
Daniel Alexandrov, ‘Bulgaria is You!’: Violations, which have directly influenced the election results, are mainly among the Roma and low educated population
The Election day according to the observers of National Movement ‘Bulgaria is You!’ – Focus Information Agency talks with Daniel Alexandrov, coordinator of the Movement and observer for Sofia.
Focus: What are the observers’ findings about the Election day?
Daniel Alexandrov: On election day, our observers have recorded different in type and character disorders, which can be divided into two groups: violations that have directly influenced the results of the elections and violations without a direct influence on the results, but the compromising and corrupting the electoral process. In the first group we put the political statements of leaders and popular persons participating in the electoral process: in them some political parties, on Election day, clearly propagandized political messages, which continued the parties’ campaigns. Here we should also note the continuing throughout the Election day comments on falsification, manipulation of the electoral vote, that influence in the direction of reducing turnout. In the final report of the Movement these will be fully described and analyzed. To the second group of violations of the electoral process we relate the technical and organizational problems.
Focus: What actions have the observers taken on the Election day?
Daniel Alexandrov: All our observers were given a worksheet with instructions, describing in detail their rights and obligations in accordance with the law. In this connection, I would like to stress that none of our authorized observers has exceeded their rights or violated the provisions of the CEC for the observers. We are now processing all information collected by them and will announce the detailed report with the analysis of the results of the monitoring.
Focus: How did the authorities react to the signals?
Daniel Alexandrov: Overall the general impression is that the police officers performed their tasks correctly. But, of course, it did not go without incidents. For example, the police in the town of Provadiya did not act adequately to a signal for buying ballots. In this particular case, after receiving a signal for payment between buyers of voices the police did not act appropriately. An observer of the Movement noticed that near a bakery in Provadiya a payment related to voting was going on. The observer’s flagged, but the police did not react. Then personally the Chairman of President of ‘Bulgaria is You!’ called 112. We asked the police to go to the place in plain clothes as it comes to shopping for votes. The police responded very quickly, but in uniforms and with signal lights and sirens on. You can imagine how such an exhibition worked. The culprits quickly dispersed. Yet, our observers were able to track them down and showed the house in which the people have entered with the money. The police entered the house in question and asked for their ID cards. While the police were checking the identity card of the person who had taken wads of cash in his pocket, his accomplice came on a bike and took the money, which left unnoticed by the inspecting uniformed officers. This kind of action of the police is extremely inadequate. Here is another case: an observer of ‘Bulgaria is You!’ in Varna was arrested when he asked for a copy of the record after the census in polling station № 33.
Focus: What shortcomings in the organization of the elections did you notice?
Daniel Alexandrov: It was a mass practice that at the polling stations they did not make a distinction between the “supporter”, “representative of a political party” and “observer”. They did not keep the instructions to wear identification badges – signs by the members of the committees. In general, the copies of the protocols which the observers received were not appropriately certified; they were even given copies of the drafts, which have no legal value. In many places ballots were stamped with a seal in advance and separated from the cob. We also have a case in ‘Hristo Botev’ school in Dupnitza polling station №10, in which the Chairman of the Committee takes home a seal on the day of reflection before Election day, but he was subsequently removed from the station.
Focus: Did the observers of NM ‘Bulgaria is You!’ have any problems with supporters of the political parties?
Daniel Alexandrov: No, we haven’t.
Focus: What will you do with the information you have received from your observers about the electoral process?
Daniel Alexandrov: On the Election day, our representatives covered nearly half of the polling stations across the country. We received a substantial number of complaints of different types of infringement that we have processed and forwarded to the CEC and DECs. Some of these violations have already been made public in the media.
Focus: What are the conclusions of your first involvement in monitoring of Parliamentary elections?
Daniel Alexandrov: We found that violations take place mainly among Roma and low-educated population, as well as among people living at or below the social minimum for the country. This raises important questions about the need for changes in the electoral law, which our organization will insist on at the new Parliament. We do not exclude the possibility that after we make the analysis to suggest options for solutions to the problems of manipulation of the electoral process, such as the elimination of the vote on the ground of address registration with prepared voter lists; this will allowing more people to exercise their constitutional right to vote and will increase voter turnout. Implementation of educational programmes in secondary schools on citizens’ electoral rights and the related laws, leading an intensive information campaign starting well before the election covering the existing electoral law and to explain in a simple way the mechanics of the electoral process. Last but not least, I will mention the need for training of the members of the election commissions, thus enabling technical errors to be minimized.
