I cannot list everything that the ministries have done in recent weeks, but there are three things that I think everyone will remember, because they have not been done before. First - we put an end to the dark rooms and dark methods of vote control. Second - we took a step towards true accessibility. And third, perhaps the most visible - we showed that the state is more organized than the vote traders. This was stated by Prime Minister Andrey Gyurov during the last briefing of the Coordination Council for the preparation of the upcoming early parliamentary elections.
He called for high voter turnout, since "it is up to Bulgarian citizens to render meaningless these efforts of the vote buyers". "Because high voter turnout is stronger than all criminal schemes", Gyurov is categorical.
And he emphasized that on Sunday, for the first time, voting will be held using screens. "And this is not just a technical detail - this is a boundary between free choice and a controlled vote. The screens preserve the secrecy of the vote, but they put an end to taking pictures, taking ballots out of pockets and using any manual means to mark the correct box on the ballot", he emphasized.
The Prime Minister added: "We have developed an application for people with visual impairments. This way, they will be able to hear the lists in their section and make an informed and full-fledged choice. Ultimately, democracy works when it works for everyone".
Gyurov also reported on the good work done in terms of vote buying. "The results are not only more investigations, but also higher trust. The result is also 1 million euros confiscated, with police actions continuing until the elections. There is no hiding place, no drawer, no belt or candidate list to hide those who want to taint the vote of Bulgarian citizens and our future. This morning, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported to me that there is operational information about a huge amount of counterfeit euros that will be used to buy votes. In other words, the goal is not only to distort the vote of Bulgarian citizens, but also to deceive them", warned the Prime Minister.
"The mission with which the government took office is to restore trust, to show that everyone's vote matters and that the state stands by the citizens, not above them. Ultimately, democracy only works when people believe in it. We are approaching the moment when we will hand over the baton to the Central Election Commission. "We will convey it to the conscience of all members of the Sectional Committees and to the attention of citizens and organizations that will monitor the vote on April 19," the Prime Minister added.