New Bulgarian Internet Site Monitors Election Violations

A new internet site dedicated to the monitoring of violations in the election process in Bulgaria has been launched in the eve of the October 23 presidential and local elections.

The project comes on the backdrop of data of Transparency International showing that 20% to 25% of Bulgarian voters become victims of the so-called "controlled vote" with 12% admitting they have been involved in vote buying and selling.

The site "For Fair Elections" was presented by the Institute for Public Environment Development Saturday during the seminar "Elections 2011 – Mobilizing Institutions and Citizens for Honest and Free Election Process."

The seminar, held in the second largest city of Plovdiv, was organized by the NGO Institute for Public Environment Development and the America for Bulgaria Foundation.

The site combines features of social networks with the main goal of offering everyone the opportunity to report violations such as vote buying, voting fraud, intimidation of voters, and irregularities in the election campaigning, among others. The information – text and pictures can be sent via Facebook, Twitter, email and phone. After being verified by the site's administrators, the information is marked on the map of Bulgaria and the world, thus the site offers the option to Bulgarian voters abroad to also alarm about violations in the election process across the globe.

The organizers stress they are expecting Bulgarians abroad to be active on the site if they notice violations.

A mobile version where voters can sent information through text messages on their cell phones is also in the works.

The site uses the so-called Ushahidi platform, created in Kenya as the "Violence Map." The idea behind it is to reflect the information on the map in real time by marking the location where the violation has been committed with a red dot. When clicking on the dot, the user can see the information in the form of text, picture or video. There is also a forum where users can share opinions and comments.

Representatives of the Institute vow to verify any information they receive. If the latter is not backed by at least one more confirmation, the reported violation will be listed as "unconfirmed," while those verified by the additional check will be labeled "confirmed."

The NGO is not going to send the information they receive to the Prosecutor's Office, but will advise people who contact them to turn to the prosecution.

The internet address of the site is http://fairelections.eu and has versions in Bulgarian and English.