site.btaTISP Demands 100% Check of Voting Machines before Elections, Alleges CC-DB Circles Control Machine Voting

There Is Such a People (TISP), formerly part of the GERB-led government coalition, wants every single voting machine checked before the April 19 parliamentary elections, rather than only some, deputy parliamentary group leader Stanislav Balabanov said in a declaration to the National Assembly. He is certain that these won't be fair elections as "political and economic circles close to Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria have taken the machine voting in their hands".

TISP insists that the audit of the machines should be conducted by state officials. He also called for the security seals on the machines to be placed by government staff after the inspections and for the seals themselves to be supplied by the Council of Ministers rather than by the private company installing the devices, Ciela Norma, which he said is the current practice of the Central Election Commission of Bulgaria.

The TISP lawmaker also criticized the role of the caretaker Minister of Electronic Governance, George Sharkov. According to Balabanov, the Cabinet has assigned the coordination of election preparations to Sharkov, a move he said had not happened before. He alleged links between the Minister and figures associated with the victims in a high-profile multiple deaths case (the Petrohan Case). Furthermore, he raised questions about appointments within the Ministry and suggested that there are "attempt to capture the Electronic Governance Ministry and Information Services AD", the company safeguarding the electoral process.