Philadelphia Poll Organizer: Tight Deadline Was Only Difficulty

The tight deadline to collect the voters' application was the only difficulty in opening the polling section in Philadelphia, according to Philadelphia resident Valeria Gospodinov.

Valeria, who lives in the US since 2000, was the key figure and main organizer of the local polling section for the July 5 general elections for Bulgarian Parliament.

In an interview for novinite.com she said that running against time with people being busy with work and the great travel distances was the only obstacle in trying to give Bulgarians in the Philadelphia area the opportunity to exercise their voting rights.

Gospodinov gave praise to Bulgarian community in Philadelphia and to the employees at the Consular Office in New York and in particular to General Consul, Nikolay Milkov, who contacted the poll workers many times to explain in detail the requirements and to ask us if they needed anything.

"Election Day went smoothly, without any violations. Everyone was happy and satisfied to be able to express their opinion. There was a line, but people waited patiently their turn. Many stayed until we completed the ballot count and announced the results," Valeria said.

According to her the record voter turnout across the US and in her city was due to the fact that Bulgarian expats got tired of waiting for something good to happen in their motherland and to the fear that Bulgaria was being destroyed.

"Believe me patriotism is deeply hidden inside every Bulgarian, every Bulgarian has it, for some it is just a matter of waking it up," Valeria pointed out.

She explained the New York and Philadelphia lead of the Blue Coalition over the overall election winner GERB with the fact that in those cities there were "older" emigrants, who remember the Union of Democratic Forces, while in Atlantic City and other places there are are younger Bulgarians including many college students.

When asked about the vow of the most likely new Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, to quickly introduce legislation banning dual citizenship, Valeria Gospodinov was adamant that taking away Bulgarian citizenship from the US emigrants would hurt a lot, but they would gladly give up voting rights in order to neutralize the vote in Turkey.

Valeria congratulated Boyko Borisov with the victory and expressed hope he was going to be able to make all Bulgarians all over the world willingly come back to their country to live and work.

Full Text of Valeria Gospodinov' Interview for Novnite.com READ HERE

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