Are votes won by handing out money to pensioner clubs? This was verified by a bTV team after pensioners in Northern Bulgaria boasted that they were “rewarded by local party leaders” at a banquet during the election campaign.
Dulovo town, Silistra district. October 1 - the fourth day of the election campaign, but also a holiday for the elderly. Local retirement clubs gather for banquet. Several social media posts commemorated the holiday with photos. One of them reads:
“And today in Dulovo on the pensioner's holiday, 197 pensioners were awarded, respected and congratulated by our boy Todor Todorov, for which we thank him from the bottom of our hearts. The music paid us and every club got an envelope, friends! Be healthy Tosho!“.
The author of the post is a pensioner from Dulovo. The congratulated Todor Todorov is a long-time regional coordinator of GERB in Silistra, an agricultural producer and a businessman. After it was noticed by citizens and reflected on the site “Local Reporter”, the publication was deleted.
Our team confirms the case on the spot. In Dulovo, our undercover reporter spoke with the woman, author of the publication. We hide her face.
“Soon we had the day of the pensioner, we had gathered 200 pensioners in the restaurant, I will not say who and how. The businessmen, the parties, some leaders - brought, subsidized our holiday. That's how you buy votes, right? Votes are bought secretly, hidden, you carry money, you give money. But what do they give? The man has a business, the money is his. "He will give them to whomever he wants," says the woman.
Approached and officially, the woman refuses to stand her face in front of our camera, but explains that she sees nothing wrong with donations for the elderly in the area. And the elections and the holiday coincided by chance.
A woman from the management of another pensioner's club, who was present at the banquet, also tells about the incident in front of our hidden camera. We ask her how a businessman can make a donation.
„I was there too. They came, they gave us BGN 500. It is not of a person, of a club. From our Dulov municipality, we were gathered 11 clubs”, says the woman.
The woman confirms the support of the regional coordinator of GERB for the banquet. However, he points out that on the holiday of October 1 they were assisted by another party.
„A New Beginning” They gave BGN 500, this Todorov gave us, for the pensioners' club. They gave us GERD separately, and “New beginning” – and they gave us. We just got together. There were ten clubs and they just gave to all the clubs and we just split the money. "They always come here to the clubs when there are elections," the woman adds.
The regional coordinator of GERB in Silistra, wanted for a position, denies handing out money in envelopes and says that he regularly supports pensioners.
„At the celebration in Dulovo, I only paid for the music. There were also representatives of other parties at the gathering. I personally have not handed out envelopes to anyone. I was born in Dulovo and I regularly support pensioners on October 1, Christmas, and New Year. I make donations and help in a personal capacity and as a person from the local business”, claims GERB regional coordinator Todor Todorov.
After our inquiry about their support for the banquet, the “DPS - New Beginning“ in Dulovo with an explanation that it is not related to the elections.
„We made a donation that was financial, but for the needs of the clubs and not in connection with the upcoming elections. "We made donations for the day of the old people years ago, before I became a member of the current party," says Zafer Hajibilyal, leader of the "DPS" list. A New Beginning“ in Dulovo.
And the woman who tells us about the money at the banquet adds that some parties also support pensioners outside of elections – mainly with free tours. She avoids answering our question whether she was asked to vote for a candidate of some of the sponsors of the banquet for the sums she quoted.
bTV checked the situation with pensioner clubs in Svishtov as well. The members of one of them - club "Aleko 2024", for example, boasted that they are among the few politically independent clubs in our country.
“We are politically and financially independent. Because clubs that are financially dependent are also politically dependent. The membership fee with us is 1 BGN, 12 BGN per year, but each of us, if possible, by taking a pension, allocates as much as we decide, absolutely voluntarily, so that we can maintain electricity, water, coffee, sweets,“, says Antoaneta Fereshtanova, chairwoman of pensioner club “Aleko 2024“.
“There are 20 or 21 such municipal clubs in the municipality. As elections approach, the other clubs are always at gatherings, banquets, restaurants, with a large table and with the presence and direct leadership of the mayor. And I tell you that the most active work is before the elections. There are over 2,000 pensioners in the municipality, they are actively worked with, they go there in person, the mayor goes and campaigns with the relevant card of the election candidate, says Nunka Tomova, a member of the pensioners' club "Aleko 2024".
The mayor of Svishtov, Gencho Genchev, is running for a third term - he was first elected by BSP, then twice by GERB. He confirmed that he supports the majority of clubs with a total subsidy of BGN 60,000 per year. Banquets are separate, including on October 1.
“Every year, traditionally, we gather all the clubs, we draw them. I have been there and you can ask someone and they will tell you if I have uttered a word that there are elections coming up and that they should support some political force. A holiday is a holiday, elections are elections", Gencho Genchev declares.
According to Genchev, the "Aleko" club, which is not affiliated with the municipality, has sheltered his opponents from “We continue the change”. The pensioners from there assure us that their party sympathies are colorful.