Another day of actions against bought and manipulated votes in several parts of the country. Five people have been detained in an operation to counter election crimes in Haskovo, Nova TV reported.
The director of the Haskovo Regional Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Miroslav Hristov, explained that actions have been taking place since March 18. “Over the past 24 hours, five pre-trial proceedings have been initiated for five people detained in the region. Lists of names and sums of money against them have been established“, he reported.
According to him, officers from several police divisions - security, economic, gendarmerie - are participating in the inspections. “21 people have been detained since the beginning of the special operation. A total of 16 pre-trial proceedings have been initiated. There have been 52 reports of vote buying. For reference, before the October 2024 elections, 3 proceedings were initiated with five detainees. There are 116 warning protocols so far, and there were 51 at the time. The amounts offered for bought votes range from 40 to 75 euros,“ announced Hristov.
According to his data, lists of names of persons and amounts of money against them have been established in Harmanli, owned by a 51-year-old man. He is an unemployed person. The detainees are from the municipalities of Haskovo, Dimitrovgrad and Ivaylovgrad, with some of the persons engaged in usury, and there is also a criminal record for robberies. Police data show that citizens tend to vote for a certain political party in exchange for loan and debt relief.
The Acting Minister of Labor and Social Policy Hasan Ademov announced that over 25,800 people in the Haskovo region receive support under the “European Solidarity” program, and a total of over 30,000 are users of social services in the region. He emphasized that these people are extremely vulnerable and easily susceptible to manipulation.
“We are here to support these people not to give in to pressure. This assistance is not from political parties, leaders or local authorities – it is from the state budget and European funds”, said Ademov. The minister reported on a specific violation found by the Ministry's Inspectorate: a civil servant from the “Social Assistance” Directorate – Haskovo attended an event to nominate candidates for parliamentarians during working hours. Ademov was categorical that administrative and punitive measures would be taken.
The distribution of aid by the Bulgarian Red Cross also fell into the center of the scandal. A photo was presented showing the logo of a political party at a food distribution point.
Minka Mecherinkova from the BRC-Haskovo categorically denied the accusations of current political interference. “We have never allowed such a thing in years. This photo could be from three years ago. We started the current distribution on March 16 and there were no such signs then”, she said.
Five people have been arrested so far.
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior Georgi Kandev presented startling data on election violations in the country. According to him, the police's activity has led to a huge jump in detection rates compared to the previous vote:
Reports of violations: 1291 (compared to 234 in the previous elections);
Pre-trial proceedings: 362 (compared to 64 in the previous elections;
Detainees: 225 (compared to 42 in the previous elections).
“The average growth in detected violations is between 250% and 400%. The Ministry of Interior does not issue verdicts, we collect evidence and hand it over to the prosecutor's office”, emphasized Kandev. He confirmed that the report about the distribution of aid in Haskovo will be thoroughly checked by the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior.
A large-scale operation by the police and gendarmerie is also being carried out in Ruse against vote buying and conventional crime. The operation began early this morning, with checkpoints being set up in several neighborhoods of Ruse and in suburban areas as early as 6 a.m. According to police, operations are also underway in the town of Vetovo, an area that has traditionally been the focus of such operations before elections. More information is expected to be released later in the day. During the inspections, residents of neighborhoods known in the past for similar practices said that vote trading is no longer observed.
The Minister of Social Affairs, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Deputy Minister of Justice are expected to arrive in the area.
In actions by the gendarmerie and police in the Pazardzhik region, 14 people were detained. The police specified that the efforts are aimed at combating crime and ensuring the fairness of the electoral process. In order to cover the entire region, mobile teams of the Zonal Gendarmerie Department in Plovdiv also joined in support of the local police. Together with representatives of other state control bodies, the police inspected a total of 73 sites, numerous people and vehicles. Financial companies, pawnshops and various commercial establishments were put under scrutiny. During the mass inspections, 12 acts and 225 sheets were drawn up. This was confirmed by the spokesman for the Pazardzhik Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Miroslav Stoyanov. He added that the police were also able to identify the perpetrators of two thefts - one from an office and the other from a private residence.
During the checks, the law enforcement agencies came across 7 people who had previously been wanted.
A large-scale police operation was carried out early this morning in the territory of the Pleven region, the acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Chief Commissioner Georgi Kandev, announced on Facebook.
A total of 320 people were checked during the operation, and numerous violations and data on committed crimes were found. 12 protocols were drawn up for election violations.
The most serious violations were found in the settlements of Bukovlak and Knezha, where the law enforcement agencies found 3,200 euros and 340 pounds, as well as lists of names and specific amounts against them. According to Kandev, this is a serious signal of organized attempts to influence the vote.
Nine were arrested in a police operation in the Stara Zagora region. Four of the detainees have evidence of vote-buying and electoral violations, and pre-trial proceedings have been initiated in the cases. Commissioner Georgi Georgiev from the Stara Zagora Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs explained that notebooks and lists were found in which the three names, the personal identification number and the section in which the vote will be held are written. "This gives us reason to believe that there is already preparation and implementation of this type of crime", he added. "In some places, firewood is being distributed, in others - food products - oil, sugar, lentils", he also commented.