The leadership of "DPS - New Beginning" complained to the OSCE international observation mission about the actions of the Ministry of Interior on the eve of the early parliamentary elections on April 19, 2026. The party described the traditional police operations against election trading as an attempt at "intimidation" and political repression of their mayors and activists.
During the meeting with the delegation, led by political analyst Jelena Stefanovic, the representatives of the formation announced that they were subject to unlawful institutional pressure. According to the party statement, the actions of the Ministry of Interior are only "disguised as a fight against vote buying", and their real goal is to crack down on political activity in the localities. From "DPS - New Beginning" went so far as to state to foreign observers that "dictatorship is being consolidated" in Bulgaria.
In an attempt to attack their political opponents from "Continuing Change - Democratic Bulgaria", the party recalled to the OSCE the scandalous recording from the PP-DB national council, using the remark about holding elections with "our Ministry of Interior" as an argument for the current situation.
The talks with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were attended by the deputy chairmen of the coalition's parliamentary group, Stanislav Anastasov, Iskra Mihaylova and Hamid Hamid, as well as MP Atidze Veli. MEPs Taner Kabilov and Elena Yoncheva also took part.
They announced that they were receiving numerous signals about unlawful detentions and checks, and the data would be made public after the vote. The party leadership plans to raise the issue in the National Assembly during the upcoming hearing of the acting Minister of the Interior.
During the discussion with the observers, the topic of voting technology was also touched upon. "DPS - New Beginning" confirmed their support in principle for machine voting, but set the explicit condition that there be clear public control over the reporting of the results from the devices at the end of election day.