Svetoslav Georgiev from the Agricultural People's Union and Martin Dilovski from “Bulgarian Voice“ are going to a runoff for mayor of the Vratsa village of Malorad. In the first round, Georgiev received 335 votes, and Dilovski – 272, announced the secretary of the Municipal Election Commission in Borovan Siliya Ivanova.
The second round is coming after none of the five candidates received the required majority. The vote will be held on October 25 – the date on which the presidential elections are also scheduled.
The voter turnout in Malorad reached 59.19%. 1,330 people had the right to vote. The vote was held in five sections, two of which were mobile, and in one voting was done only by machine.
„Malorad were excellent candidates“
The secretary of the Borovan Municipality Tanya Nikolova told bTV that after election day the municipality had not received any reports of violations.
„Malorad were excellent candidates, hopefully everything will be fine for the run-off as well“, Nikolova said.Her comment comes against the backdrop of the case from October 2023, when the results of the elections for municipal councilors in the village were disputed. At that time, it was found that members of one of the section election commissions had added preferences for candidates for councilors from Malorad. After a report by BNT, two members of the commission were arrested.
Because of this incident, the village became known for the expression “Uncle Tseno“, used when adding preferences. According to Tanya Nikolova, people have “learned their lesson“ and were more careful during the last vote.
The by-elections for mayor were scheduled after the previous mayor's powers were terminated due to a conviction for driving under the influence of drugs. Who will take over the governance of Malorad will become clear after the runoff between Svetoslav Georgiev and Martin Dilovski.
Sources: news.bg, zovnews.com, bntnews.bg