174 People Voted Twice in Bulgaria Parliamentary Elections

A total of 174 Bulgarian citizens cast two votes in Bulgaria's Parliamentary Elections on July 5, 2009.

This data was announced Sunday by Ivan Getov, head of the Citizen Registration and Administrative Service Directorate (GRAO) of the Bulgarian government.

67 people committed the same violation in the European Parliament Elections on June 7, 2009.

GRAO found the violations by processing the names and personal data of all those who cast their votes; thus became clear the names of the ones who voted twice.

About 10 persons voted twice in Sofia, and 14 did so in the city of Varna. 79 of the Bulgarian expats in Turkey voted twice - 68 voted two times in Turkey, and another 11 voted once in Turkey, and then once in Bulgaria.

The GRAO inspection also showed that 33 persons who did not have the right vote have also cast their votes. These include 33 underage youth and 6 prisoners.

The GRAO Directorate has already submitted this data to the Central Electoral Commission. The CEC Spokesperson Ralitsa Negentsova said they would be forwarded to the prosecutor's office, and the local prosecutors would investigate the individual cases. If proven guilty, those who voted twice will be sentenced to a probation and a BGN 2 000 fine.

Both GRAO and the Electoral Commission noted that the number of persons voting twice was decreasing compared to past elections when this number reached several hundred.

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