A protest rally against suspected mass vote manipulations in the May 12 general elections is being held in the Bulgarian capital Sofia Saturday afternoon. Photo by BGNES
Citizens have begun gathering in the Bulgarian capital Sofia to rally with demands for interrogations of former Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and his Deputy, former Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov.
The growing protest is held in front of the headquarters of the Central Electoral Commission, CEC, the BGNES news agency reported.
The demands stem from breaking news that the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office is probing the case of some 350 000 suspected to be illegal ballots seized from a printing house in the western town of Kostinbrod.
The ballots, allegedly, were to be used to manipulate the vote in the early general elections on Sunday, May 12, to turn the results in favor of Borisov's and Tsvetanov's formerly-ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB. centrist
The printing house is owned by Yordan Bonchev, municipal councilor in Kostinbrod from GERB, who is said to be close to Tsvetanov.
The demonstrators further call on President, Rosen Plevneliev, and caretaker Prime Minister, Marin Raykov, to offer guarantees that the Sunday vote will be fair and democratic across the country.
They are shouting "Borisov and Tsvetanov in Jail," and "GERB Are the Mafia!"
The rally is reported to be organized by the nationalist VMRO party.