Bogus Bulgarian Capital Weather Reports Beat Exit-Poll Ban
Elections 2009 | November 15, 2009, Sunday
The Dnevnik daily played on the famous football derby between top clubs Levski (The Blues) and CSKA (the Reds), a coded reference to the candidate of the center-right GERB party and the Socialist runner. Photo by dnevnik.bg
Bulgarian media beat a ban on the release of exit polls from voting in the mayoral by-elections in the capital Sofia by using bogus weather reports as cover to pass on runners' likely standings.
Like the Audrey Hepburn character in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," who relays coded mafia messages to a jailed don, the BGNES news agency beat a close-of-voting 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) legal embargo with some curious temperatures.
As Sofia shivered in temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius, the agency reported that temperatures near the Sofia municipality were 69 degrees Celsius compared to 20 degrees near the Socialist Party headquarters.
In other words, Yordanka Fandakova, the candidate of center-right GERB party of former Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov, was winning nearly 70% of all votes, while the Socialist candidate Georgi Kadiev was trailing.
Winds were blowing at 20 metres per second in Bulgaria at 6:15 pm BGNES added, indicating 20 percent turnout, which tallied with official statistics.
The Dnevnik daily played on the famous football derby between top clubs Levski (The Blues) and CSKA (the Reds), a coded reference to the candidate of the center-right GERB party Yordanka Fandakova and Socialist candidate Georgi Kadiev. The forecast result was 71-22.
The first official exit poll results were released at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), with the first partial official results due the morning after.
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