"The election process ended without any serious incidents. We pointed out several potential problems and our concerns were realized," said the Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev at a briefing.

According to him, it has become clear that with the return of the paper ballot, attempts to manipulate the vote are increasing.

"We witnessed this and successfully countered these practices. The pre-trial proceedings in these elections are twice as many as compared to the previous ones. However, these practices did not significantly affect the results of the elections," added Ivan Demerdzhiev.

The interior minister added that the electoral lists often include persons known to the police who engage in vote-buying practices.

"There was such a tendency in these elections as well. I appeal to the political parties to check precisely the people they include in the lists, because otherwise the impression remains that people are being included in order to gain immunity and carry out this activity without any problems," emphasized Demerdzhiev.

The Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that 143 pre-trial proceedings were initiated, which is almost 90 percent more than the previous elections.

"More than 800 open signals were processed by the authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and about 500 operational ones. Every single signal has been checked," noted Petar Todorov and added that 2,100 warning protocols were issued.

Petar Todorov explained that out of these 143 pre-trial proceedings, about 30 are fast-track proceedings, 126 are detained.

"Mass buying of votes was not allowed, on the contrary, there is a decrease," said the chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"We did not allow the hybrid attacks that developed at the beginning of last week by the actions of minors, mostly on our territory, to affect the peaceful conduct of the electoral process. Voter turnout is slightly higher compared to the previous elections. Due to the new protocol, which was adopted, even if there are bomb threats at the beginning of next week, there will be no closure of schools or other public buildings. I believe that this problem is a thing of the past," stressed Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev.

According to him, it is much more difficult to prove the presence of a crime in the corporate vote. "We have proceedings and inspections. The main signals regarding the corporate vote concern the political party GERB," Demerdzhiev also said.

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/Bulgarian National Television

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