site.btaThere Is Enough Time to Rent Optical Ballot-Scanning Devices, TISP’s Toshko Yordanov Says

There is sufficient time to rent optical ballot-scanning devices, There Is Such a People (TISP) Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov told reporters in the corridors of Parliament on Wednesday. He said that this is the responsibility of a future caretaker government, which will either carry out the will of the legislature by renting the machines and complying with the law, or “will sabotage the elections.” 

Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs debated at second reading draft amendments to the Election Code during a session that lasted more than thirteen hours, starting on January 20 and finishing in the early hours of January 21. Lawmakers rejected a proposal by BSP - United Left for optical ballot-scanning devices to be introduced as of January 1, 2027, and voted instead for the law to enter into force upon its publication in the State Gazette. 

Asked whether sectional election commissions would have time to prepare, Yordanov explained that the machines are operated by technical teams, while the commission observes the process from the front row. When 100% machine voting was introduced for the 2021 parliamentary elections, the necessary machines, then unavailable in Bulgaria, were rented within a month, although GERB and the MRF had argued at the time that there would be neither time nor capacity to introduce the machines, Yordanov said. “If someone is looking for a reason not to get something done, one will be found,” the MP added. 

Yordanov said that the voting process with optical scanners is simple. Ballots pass through the scanning devices and fall directly into a sealed ballot box. After election day ends, the box is removed without touching the ballots, and the scanner prints a protocol of the results. According to him, there will be no handwritten protocols by the commission. A paper protocol, a digital storage device and the sealed ballot box are delivered to the Central Election Commission. If there is doubt, the box is opened by the commission and the ballots are counted, he explained. There will be no post-filling of protocols, altered content, additions or defaced ballots, Yordanov said, adding that the opposition is wrong to claim the elections will be rigged.

Yordanov also said that Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (CC–DB) have destroyed trust in voting machines. He recalled that at the start of the current Parliament, when CC–DB proposed a "sanitary cordon" around MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski, TISP said it would support the move if CC–DB also committed to removing so-called “ghost voters” from the voter lists. According to Yordanov, CC–DB are now sabotaging this process.

TISP MP Alexander Rashev commented that during Tuesday’s meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee, 90% of the opposition’s statements, mainly from Vazrazhdane, were general remarks. He said that the Committee adopted provisions on the use of optical scanners for counting ballots and that there is nothing concerning in the changes. According to Rashev, the new procedure could be applied as early as the upcoming elections.