site.btaMRF - New Beginning Leader Suggests Suspected Vote-Buying Incident in Pazardzhik Local Elections Was Staged by Continue the Change

The leader of the MRF–New Beginning party, Delyan Peevski, said here Thursday that what was suspected to be a vote-buying incident amid the local elections in the southern town of Pazardzhik earlier in October was actually staged by  the opposition Continue the Change and more specifically MP and former Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov.

MRF - New Beginning won the elections in Pazardzhik amid concerns of wide-spread vote-buying. In the incident mentioned by Peevski, a suspected vote buyer was detained in a citizens' arrest but police subsequently did not find evidence of wrong-doing. 

Speaking to the press in Parliament, Peevski showed a photo of Boyko Rashkov shaking hands with a man who he identified as "Muharem Muhata [Fly]" and said the photo proved that Boyko Rashkov was behind the citizens' arrest episode.

“What did they do in Pazardzhik? They caught their own cars,” Peevski said, referring to the citizens' arrests which he called “a fraud”.