site.btaUPDATED Citizens Protest in Central Sofia Calling for Fair Elections and 100% Machine Counting
Citizens protested in central Sofia at the square known as the Power Triangle, where the new National Assembly building is flanked by the Presidency and the Council of Ministers. The demonstration was organized by the Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria coalition and was held under the slogan “For fair and just elections and 100% machine counting of election results”.
The protest was supported by the Vazrazhdane party, the Morality, Unity, Honour (MECh) party, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, and Velichie parties.
The message “The mafia does not like machines” was being projected onto the facade of the Presidency building.
Traffic in the area popularly known as the Largo, where Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard and Knyaz Alexander Dondukov Boulevard intersect, has been temporarily suspended.
Attending the protest, Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov said there was a major difference between introducing a new election technology, which, he noted, should indeed not be done at the last minute, and restoring a system that had worked election after election a few years ago. He argued that the latter option was much safer, more sensible, and enjoyed broader public support, he told reporters.
Bozhanov described the current situation, which combines machines and voter-verified paper records, as a poor solution, explaining that the machines now function merely as printers, while the final count is once again done manually using voter-verified paper records. He stressed that CC-DB would continue to insist on 100% machine voting.
According to CC-DB MP Ivaylo Mirchev, a majority in parliament supports the protest, which he described as normal and reasonable. He said it would be logical for everyone to back it, including GERB Chair Boyko Borissov and MRF – New Beginning Chair Delyan Peevski. Mirchev called on them to also support machine voting, noting that they were the ones who had originally introduced it.
/RY/
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