When I look at all these recordings from the video surveillance, I am left with the feeling that some of the sectional election commissions did not work according to the rules. This was stated before the BNR by Kamelia Neikova, the chairman of the CEC.
"I specifically mean the section in Belitsa. I watched this recording very carefully. One of the members of the sectional election committee can clearly be seen writing something on the left side of the paper ballots, probably either the ballots become invalid or some sign of a particular party is entered. I cannot believe that there are such members of the SIC who, with a sense of impunity, do such things, and the other members of the sectional commission do not seem to see what is happening in front of them. This is not the only case.
There are also SIKs that have worked according to the rules. But the majority do not read the CEC's methodological instructions and decisions. They dump the ballots on a table and everyone starts pulling and counting. This is not correct. The ballots are taken out one by one by a designated member of the SIC, who must read in front of everyone who the corresponding vote is for and show the camera what is written on the ballot.
One of the reasons for such things happening is the mass change of members of section commissions at the last moment, Neikova pointed out in the program "Nedelya 150".
"On election day, unprepared people enter the sections".
The CEC has clearly defined powers in the Electoral Code, she also reminded.
"Ballot recounts are not among them. Correction of results entered in the SIC protocols based on video surveillance recordings is also not among them. The legislator did not foresee such a possibility. The CEC reports the voting results based on the data entered in the CEC minutes.
For party "Greatness" in two polling stations, when we checked the protocols, we found eight votes that were not entered in the counting station in the RIC, and we made this correction. But that is within the powers that the legislature has given us.
The only way to recount the ballots in all sections or in a part of them is in the process of contestation, in this case through the Constitutional Court.
There are CICs who don't mind that we all see them working, in some cases – in an unacceptable way, said the chairman of the CEC.
"There must be consequences when the video footage shows that the counting of the ballots and the preparation of the minutes are related to a number of violations. The power of the CEC is only to impose a fine on members of the CEC. In the next week, I expect to receive information from the executive about the sections where there are no CCTV recordings.
Neikova pointed out that there was no political pressure on her during the organization of the elections.
"No one tried to pressure. The CEC made its decisions on the basis of what was written in the Electoral Code".
The manual counting of ballots from the machine voting provided for in the legislation leads to the fact that there are differences in the data from the memory of the machines and the data entered in the protocols of the SIC, she further explained and pointed out other problems related to the machine vote.
"And in this election, some machines printed partial ballots. We will analyze again. They are not that many – about 1.3% are all machines that have given some technical problem, which led to suspension of machine voting in the respective sections. Not everyone has the problem of printing short bulletins.
The chairman of the CEC also explained that a report will be prepared, which will indicate the commission's proposals for changes in the electoral legislation.