Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Voting machine scandal as election campaign draws to a close

E-Government Minister Alexander Yolovskiл
Photo: BGNES

Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel and representatives of the Central Electoral Commission will be heard at an emergency meeting of Parliament's presiding body, (including the Parliament Chair and his deputies, and the floor leaders of the parties). 

The State Agency for National Security has reported that a deputy minister for e-government videotaped the process of generating the codes for the voting machines. 

Desislava Atanasova, leader of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group, said. "I hope that We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria will distance itself from this person," Atanasova added.

Toshko Yordanov, leader of the "There Is Such a People" parliamentary group, said that the voting machines had been compromised in this way and described it as a "coup d'état". 

"The machines have obviously been compromised by this report," Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of Vazrazhdane, told journalists in parliament, calling for the government's resignation. 

Delyan Peevski, co-leader of the MRF parliamentary group, said that the machines should not be used on Sunday so as not to disrupt the local vote, and called for the deputy minister to be sacked.

At a special press conference, E-Government Minister Alexander Yolovski said that the source code of the machines had not been compromised.

"The key used to digitally sign the software on the machines is held by three members of the Central Election Commission, each of whom has a third of the password. Each of them enters their own code, which only they know, and this is one third of the whole password," CEC spokesperson Rositsa Mateva told reporters at a briefing.


Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Sofia residents protest once again against the war on the roads

Citizens of Sofia gathered for a protest once again today in memory of 12-year-old Siyana, who died in a car accident. Mass demonstrations continue across the country against the deadly behaviour of drivers on the Bulgarian roads...

published on 4/13/25 4:27 PM

Patriarch Daniil: Sin causes sadness, but viceless life and repentance give birth to joy

Patriarch Daniil has served a Holy Liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky on the occasion of the Feast of the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. After raising Lazarus from the dead, the Son of God went to..

published on 4/13/25 3:25 PM

PM Rosen Zhelyazkov: The first F-16 is a symbol of ideological change

At an official ceremony to welcome the first Bulgarian F-16 Block 70 fighter jet at the 3rd Air Base in Graf Ignatievo, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov pointed out that the new plane symbolizes the ideological change that began in..

published on 4/13/25 2:39 PM