Two Parties Exit 'BSP - United Left' Over Diverging Political Goals
The political parties "Movement 21" and "Bulgarian Spring" have announced their decision to leave the Bulgarian Socialist Party ("BSP - United Left") coalition
Ognyan Zarev, who was in the management of the Bobov Dol mines, has been fired after a hidden-camera footage alleged controlled vote ahead of May's European Elections.
Zarev has been accused by his colleagues of having ordered a report by private channel Nova TV, which first claimed to show the mine's chief as urging miners to vote at the elections by ticking a certain number in the ballots.
In the video, he also promised those who heeded his instructions to get advanced payment.
The section of his "speech" in front of the workers were he says the ballot number was first muffled as the footage was aired days before the vote. But "unabridged" versions in YouTube made clear the number was that of the main ruling party BSP.
Dariknews.bg reports that an informant of Nova TV, who works at the mine and went into some detail about corporate voting practices at Bobov Dol, has not been fired.
No legal action has yet followed the revelations. The National Ombudsman, Konstantin Penchev, has only decided to launch a probe into what he calls "feudal" working conditions at the mine, while the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has failed to agree on any measures. A probe triggered by the Prosecuting Authority is not known to have yielded results.
The Bobov Dol management denies the authenticity of the footage, saying it is "a lie" and "a result of montage".
About 1 200 000 "phantom voters" can be found in Bulgarian elections lists, Mihail Konstantinov, formerly a high-profile official in charge of elections, believes.
Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) starts receiving documents for the registration of political parties and coalitions for the early elections on October 5.
A majority in the European Parliament has approved Jean-Claude Juncker to be President of the European Commission, reports BBC.
The European Parliament is expected to approve on Tuesday the nomination of former Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission.
Former Environment Minister Iskra Mihaylova has become the nomination of the European Parliament's ALDE group to chair the Regional Policy Committee.
The European Parliament has re-elected Martin Schulz for a second presidential term, with 409 votes from the 751 MEPs.