The Central Election Commission did not find any administrative violation of the Election Code in the speech of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, which was subsequently distributed by the government press service. The decision was adopted with eight votes "for" and seven "against" after a two-hour work break and disagreements between the members of the commission.
The signal was filed by Konstantin Valkov, representing the initiative committee for the nomination of Andrey Gyurov and Georgi Kandev for president and vice president. It claims that Radev's speech after his participation in the Sofia Economic Forum constitutes election campaigning in violation of Art. 168, para. 3 of the Election Code. Reports on the case were also received from non-governmental organizations registered as observers.
The Commission's Reasons
The CEC accepted that the statement was made outside a state or municipal institution, institution, enterprise or company with more than 50 percent state or municipal participation. The Commission also took into account that the statement was made on October 26, before the start of the election campaign and before the adoption of Decision No. 417 of October 27 on the results of the first round of the presidential and vice-presidential elections.
Regarding the reports of violation of Art. 183 of the Electoral Code, the Commission accepted that the statement did not constitute campaign material. The part of the signals that falls within the competence of the Court of Auditors has been sent to the audit body.
Objections to the CEC
Alina Dobreva and Vyara Todeva have objected to the decision. Todeva stated that in her opinion the violation is not in the statement itself, but in its dissemination through the communication channels of the Council of Ministers, including its website and social media profiles.
„No one claims that Radev's statement itself is a violation of the Election Code, and the alleged violation is the dissemination of the statement through the channels of the Council of Ministers“, Vyara Todeva stated.Dobreva stated that if the statement does not fit the definition of election campaigning, the application of Art. 185 of the Electoral Code, which prohibits the posting of election campaign materials. She and Todeva have called for the video to be removed from the official website of the Council of Ministers.
Yordan Vassilev stated that if a violation is found, the person who committed it must be identified, and Ivan Karchev made a distinction between violations that the CEC can rule on and those for which the Court of Accounts has jurisdiction.
Sources: bta.bg, bntnews.bg, btvnovinite.bg