Alarm Raised in Bulgaria over Fake Voters' Lists

The upcoming January 27 referendum on nuclear energy in Bulgaria will be conducted under heavy discrepancies in the voters' lists, a check by local media has shown.

A cross check of data by the Civic Registry and the National Statistical Institute has shown that voters' lists include as many as 829 363 'dead souls,' or voters who do not reside where they are listed, Dnevnik daily reported.

Earlier this month representatives of the Bulgaria for Citizens party sid the voters' lists will be abused and reiterated their intention to boycott the referendum, which they see as a preparation for election fraud in upcoming general elections in the summer.

The party set the number of "dead souls" in the voters' lists at 950,000.

They gave examples of listing voters who no longer reside in the area, saying that the lists in Kazanlak include 14% more people than the actual number of residents, with that percentage reaching 22% in Dupnitsa.

According to Bulgaria for Citizens activists, those so-called 'dead souls' who will not vote, can be then used for forged voting at parliamentary elections over the summer.

The Bulgaria for Citizens party was founded in July 2012 by former Bulgarian EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

After her third place in flawed fall 2011 presidential elections, Kuneva has made it a top priority of her organization to expose the corruption of Bulgarian political establishment, including election violations.