Preparations for the early elections on April 19 are underway. The composition of the sectional election commissions (SECs) will become clear after consultations with the parties. Due to the mass replacement of SEC members in several regions of the country during the last elections, the CEC has determined a special procedure by which they can be replaced. This is reported by BNT.
By March 14, local party structures in Blagoevgrad must submit the names of the people who will enter the sectional election commissions.
Martin Busarov, Chairman of the REC – Blagoevgrad: "The difference is that after we appoint the members of the section commissions in individual municipalities, we will not be able to make changes spontaneously. I use the word spontaneously and indiscriminately, as was the case in the previous elections. A change in the personnel composition will be possible only under a few circumstances - death of one of the members, upon submission of his resignation in person with a special declaration, or if in the meantime one of the members is elected to a position that interferes with him and is in a position of incompatibility."
Voters hope that the new rules will stop the changes hours before the start of election day.
Valeri Nikolov, Chairman of the Election Commission: "In the last elections, there were really many changes literally in the last minutes. This certainly shouldn't happen, because in general it's difficult for everyone, because we are a team of 9 people there, and when you don't know who you have to work with, it's not good."
Martin Busarov, Chairman of the REC - Blagoevgrad: "I am using the BNT broadcast to call on the parties to carefully check their lists of members that they will propose to the sections, because changes in the personnel will not be made at the request of the parties when they consider that they will not be able to do the job they so desire on election day, but only under strictly limited circumstances."
According to long-time members of the section commissions, another problem is the preparation of the proposed people.
Valeri Nikolov, Chairman of the SIC: "A terrible number of people go there solely for the money, for what they will earn. In general, even the parties themselves do not realize that these people do not protect their interests."
Elena Stoilova, member of the SIC: "I really hope that more young people will get involved, be trained, and spend time on training them, because they need to be able to and know. The process itself is such that if the chairman himself is very experienced, he will draw up the protocol, but count the commission, the members, and if they do not know which ballot is valid and which is not, then the effect is zero."
There will be no changes in the training of the members of the section commissions. Whether the new rules for replacing them will work will become clear on April 19.