Bulgarian Socialists Mull Annulment of Election Results

The October 23 presidential and local elections are an unprecedented in the last 20 years failure, according to Sergey Stanishev, leader of the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

In a Thursday interview for the largest private TV channel bTV, Stanishev stressed there is a very strong possibility for the election results to be annulled over suspicions the process was filled with violations and manipulations thus these elections could be deemed illegal.

"We have 230 000 invalid ballots and serious suspicions of large-scale manipulations. When the difference between the top runner for president and the runner-up is 350 000, one must find out who these 230 000 voted for," he said, adding despite the fact he had serious reservations towards the leader of the far-right, nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, the latter was right this time in asking a recount of the ballots.

Stanishev, who is also a former Prime Minister in the previous cabinet of the Three-Way Coalition, pointed out that other violations included lost, abandoned and misplaced ballots and protocols and criminal activities of the Interior to include another 400 000 in the voter lists.

The Socialists leader declared that the rights of Bulgarian citizens to vote in free and democratic elections were violated. He informed BSP is considering opening a hotline for the Sunday runoff to unable voters to report violations.

The ex PM was adamant the cabinet of the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) is to be blamed for the elections' failure and appealed to everyone to go to the polls Sunday.

"This runoff will decide if we will have a totalitarian regime or democracy in Bulgaria," Stanishev stated.

He also informed that the BSP Executive Bureau is convening later Friday to decide on actions to annul election results.