Comment by Emilia Milcheva:
How many "pig tails" are needed for one sack of ballot papers is not a joke about the elections in Bulgaria, but a task for politicians for changes to the Electoral Code (EC) proposed by the CEC. At a meeting yesterday, the Deputy Chairperson of the CEC and its spokesperson Rositsa Mateva proposed “to envisage two “pig tails” to close the bag so that the paper tape can be glued between them”.
A formal "issue"
The issue of packaging the papers, which the law requires to be kept until the next elections, is a formal consequence of the Constitutional Court's (CS) ruling in the case for partial annulment of the elections on October 27, 2024. The result is that a ninth political force enters the 51st parliament - the “Majesty” party with 10 deputies, and despite the serious violations found such as writing votes, filling out ballots according to a template and even missing ballots, there will be no new elections.
The CEC spokesman also suggests considering whether the bags in which the ballots are stored should be replaced with another type of “harder packaging”, so that the paper strips on which the signatures of the CEC members are located do not tear when moved. And why not safes with biometric protection or vacuum-sealed lead capsules! By the way, putting this topic on the agenda is also a problem – instead of thinking about effective control over the electoral process, insignificant technical solutions are being discussed. Citizens are aware that if there is no political will for transparency and a fair vote, it does not matter how the ballots are sealed.
And yet – Who are the thieves of the 780 ballots missing from seven of the 2204 polling stations checked by the Constitutional Court? The prosecutor's office, approached by the state-owned company "Information Service" AD, never asked the right questions. If the prosecutor's office does not search for the missing ballots and the perpetrators of the crime, but instead seeks explanations from the constitutional judges why they themselves do not search for them, this is a deliberate diversion of attention - or simply a play on procedural maneuvers. The situation is reminiscent of a theft investigation, in which instead of searching for the thieves, the suspects are questioned as to why they were not caught.
Three versions of how ballots can disappear
Election ballots can disappear in at least three places. Given the wonderful collusion that reigns in a large part of the section election commissions (SECs), the contents of the bags can be replaced even before they are handed over to the municipal administration for storage.
It is difficult to forget that video of the vote counting in the village of Garmen, which was shown by BNT. 261 ballots were counted, but “Krasi needs 300” – as it becomes clear for number 8, everything is arranged and 362 votes appear in the protocol for MRF-New Beginning. However, during the recount by the experts of the Constitutional Court, these votes drop to 256, the election commission has overdone its generosity. With such a consensus among members elected by different political forces, anything can be done with the contents of the bags, including tampering with the sealing tapes with the signatures of the members of the CEC and the seal.
Bags with ballots can disappear during transportation, and can also be replaced - so what if they are missing tapes. The important thing is that the number comes out. After the ballots are handed over, access to the premises where they will be stored may not be fully controlled. This means that certain employees can replace or destroy ballots. Even if there are cameras, there are still "blind spots", that is, places that are not covered. And if the power goes out for some reason, the cameras will not be able to film and manipulation can be carried out.
Another overhaul of the Electoral Code?
The parties are once again planning to change the Electoral Code, which has been turned into a guinea pig for continuous experiments on technological solutions, although the real problem of the Bulgarian elections is the human factor. It is the political cadres who decide the elections - through the members of the electoral commissions, the politicians who organize the buying and/or controlling of votes, or through senior officials in the Ministry of Interior elected at the will of politicians, who respect some "traders" of votes, but not all of them.
Whether a citizen will exercise his right to vote by paper, machine or in some other way does not matter, if these networks exist and the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office are in the camp of a specific political force, and not on the side of democracy. Now the parliament, together with experts, the Central Election Commission and lawyers, is preparing for the second reading amendments to the Electoral Code, based on five draft laws and two main questions - how voting will be done (by machine, paper and/or mixed, and who will count). “We continue the change” (PP) propose optical scanners to replace manual counting of ballots, machine voting to again count the votes cast and preferences, as well as a new composition of the Central Election Commission after each vote.
A key proposal of “Democratic Bulgaria” (DB) are the counting centers - which the BSP also insists on, and also the return of one hundred percent machine voting. The Socialists propose clearing the electoral rolls of so-called "dead souls", and "There is such a people" (ITN) also insists on changes to the rolls. The party led by Slavi Trifonov is for a change in the type of machine voting, the creation of counting commissions and the postponement of the "Abroad" electoral district, which they want from "Vazrazhdane". Kostadinov's formation is radical - the abolition of paper ballots, and video surveillance in the SIC not to be publicly available online.
But the ruling majority does not want paper ballots to be eliminated, but for scanning devices for counting money in the 2025 budget. there is none, as explained by the Chairwoman of the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Anna Alexandrova (GERB-SDF).
“Destroyer” of democracy
The latest controversy over successive changes to the election rules is proof that the rule of law has not illuminated the dark side of the Bulgarian elections. And not only them.
The report on the rule of law by the Union for Civil Liberties for Europe Liberties placed Bulgaria in the top five countries that are destroying it, along with Italy, Croatia, Romania and Slovakia. Prepared by 43 human rights organizations from 21 EU member states, the analysis for Bulgaria shows deterioration in the areas of the fight against corruption, mechanisms for mutual control and deterrence and the influence of the civil sector, as well as no progress in the reform of the judicial system, freedom of the media and the protection of human rights.
But the “pig tails” are a prevention to prevent the bags with ballot papers from being opened. In 2016, Dinko Valev from Yambol used them to tie the hands of migrants during “civil arrests” on the Turkish border, which did not stop the flow of people, and Bulgaria entered the world news.
Even if the “pig tails” tighten the bags with ballot papers, the trust of citizens has long left the electoral process.