President Radev holds pre-election consultations with parliamentary political parties

published on 1/12/21 11:43 AM | updated on 1/12/21 1:00 PM

Photo: BTA

The consultations of Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev on the organization of the upcoming parliamentary elections continue. Today the president will meet with the political parties which are currently represented in the Bulgarian parliament without the co-ruling United Patriots party, which have announced that they would not respond to the invitation.

At his meeting with representatives of the largest parliamentary force, GERB, Radev pointed out that the purpose of the consultations initiated by him was to increase the trust of voters. "This requires dialogue, open positions, seeking consensus and the best solutions in the interest of Bulgarian citizens," he said.

Parliament Speaker Tsveta Karayancheva of GERB said that there had been a recent public outcry that the upcoming elections would be manipulated, leading to mistrust in the election process. She reproached Radev for being a participant in this rhetoric.

Radev called on the GERB party to regulate, in addition to the voting of the quarantined Bulgarians with mobile ballot boxes, the voting by post of Bulgarians abroad, as well as to consider allowing video surveillance during the counting of the ballots.

Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said there was no way to organize a postal vote within two months.

At a meeting between the President and the opposition BSP, its leader Kornelia Ninova pointed out that the opposition in parliament was ready to discuss changes to the Electoral Code to ensure that those quarantined would be able to vote. She also recalled that her party has supported machine voting over the years as a guarantor of the vote. However, the BSP said they were against voting over the course of two days.

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