BSP wants machine voting and free campaign videos

Manipulated votes are the number one problem in Bulgarian elections, Maya Manolova, lawmaker from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), told journalists on Monday at the party's headquarters. Together with Mladen Chervenyakov, a member of the BSP governing council, Manolova laid out proposals for an Electoral code overhaul.

Manolova warned that GERB has suggested just two or three cosmetic changes in response to the critical report on last year's elections delivered by observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The 2011 vote had the most violations of any other on record. However, BSP expects even more wrongdoings in next year's general elections.

One of the socialists' main proposals is the introduction of the so-called mechanic voting, not to be confused with electronic voting, said Mladen Chervenyakov. Voters would use a simple screen devise rather than a computer to select their preferred party number at the poll stations. Their choice would be instantly reflected in the district's electoral bureau, as the voter puts into the ballot-box a bill-like piece of paper printed by the machine.

This would minimise vote tampering in regional electoral bureaus, where the most outrageous frauds tend to occur while the ballots are being counted, the left-wing politicians said.

The cost of these machines is not an issue because they would be used repeatedly in many elections, Chervenyakov pointed out. There is also the option of buying used ones from countries like the US, Russia, Austria and the Netherlands.

If GERB rejects machine voting, which Manolova says is highly likely, BSP will insist on the integral ballot alternative used in the last few years. With the new Electoral Code, the ruling party restored the single-ballot option, which the opposition leader said will only bring back the chaos of 10-15 years ago.

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