Elections on the horizon - October 25 is approaching, and the clock is ticking. The machines must undergo maintenance.
Almost all the batteries need to be replaced, and some of the devices need to be repaired, the Executive Director of "Siela Norma" Vesselin Todorov told Bulgaria ON AIR.
There is another problem - time. Public procurement procedures cannot be skipped, even when there is only one candidate, and "Siela Norma" is already at the center of the organization of the machine vote.
"If there were no task to repair all the machines, there is enough time. The procedure is going at a reasonable pace. If everything is normal, maybe by the end of the week we will have a signed contract", Todorov said on the show "Denyat ON AIR".
The repair of the machines worries us the most
"What worries us the most are the deadlines for the repairs of the machines. No one has ever commissioned the repair of the machines. When they were delivered, we provided 3 years of free warranty service, which was part of the price. We were implementing it in 2021, but then it was limited to repairs without the delivery of spare parts, and finally spare parts and repairs were banned.
Todorov noted that there are about 3,000 machines with some problems, and their task is to repair all 12,800 machines - the minimum is to replace the batteries.
"We are postponing the operating system for later. There really is no time for this," Todorov pointed out.
"Everything should be fine for election day. We need to meet the deadlines so that on Friday afternoon the machines are completely ready and can leave with the trucks.".
The paper will be delivered by the BNB
The Executive Director of "Ciela Norma" indicated that the paper will be supplied by the BNB.
"Most likely the machines will be 100% working on Saturday. I cannot guarantee 100% that one will not stop on Sunday. 12,800 devices - it is logical that one of them will give some kind of problem", Todorov said.
The guest believes that the machines will be perfectly working on Saturday, and if the paper is as it should be, probably only a few machines will stop, but he added that these probabilities cannot be calculated.
The cost of the elections
According to him, the most expensive part is the screens, but Todorov noted that they do not need to be replaced on many devices.
According to him, the presidential elections will be more expensive than the April ones by perhaps 6%.
"The only bigger increase is in transportation. Diesel prices have risen by about 60% compared to February", Todorov informed, specifying that they are not raising the price by 60%, but by 30%.