Bulgarian Village to Hold New Mayoral Vote after Rivals Get Equal Score at Runoff

Residents of the southwestern Bulgarian village of Koprivlen will have to go to the polls for a third time after both mayoral candidates received an equal number of votes, 486, at the October 30 runoff.

The date for the new round of voting is to be set by the end of 2011, private TV channel bTV reported on Monday.

"This was not a victory for me or my opponent, this was a loss for the village," said Ivan Dinchev, independent candidate for mayor of Koprivlen.

He explained that the case had to be reported to the President within 14 days after the publication of the official results by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), after which the head of state had to order new elections and the campaign had to start from scratch.

Locals believe that the mayoral race was a hotly contested one because of the unfair methods deployed by the rivals.

Some have complained of being pressured into supporting current mayor Dimitar Bahanov, a nominee of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) or of voting under under threat of dismissal.

"Not everybody is dependent on the mayor but there certainly exists an atmosphere of fear, given that people do not dare to openly declare who they support," a resident of Koprivlen says.

Another peculiar situation has arisen in the village of Negushevo, which is part of the Gorna Malina Municipality located on the territory of Sofia District.

Over 80% of the ballots cast in Negushevo are invalid because there are no traces of blue ink on the paper despite the visible "X" sign scratches.

No complaints about non-functional pens in ballot booths were received on Sunday, which has made locals suspect that the pens contained disappearing ink.

The battle for the Gorna Malina Municipality pitched Emil Naydenov, independent candidate running for a third term in office, against Nikolay Stoilov, nominee of the center-right ruling party GERB.

At the first round of the local elections, Naydenov got 95 votes against 7 for his opponent.

The Black Sea resort of Primorsko faces a manual count of the votes cast at the October 30 runoff after GERB candidate for mayor Dimitar Germanov won with a lead of 29 votes over his rival Dimitar Dimitrov, a nominee of a coalition and four-time mayor of the town until 2007.