Machine voting has significantly facilitated the work of the sectional election commissions, especially when counting the votes. This was stated by Tsvetelina Peneva from the Public Council to the Central Election Commission, who assessed the election process as calm and without significant problems.
According to her, the protocols were adopted quickly, and almost 100% of them were processed on Monday morning. Peneva congratulated the tens of thousands of members of the section commissions and the other levels of the election administration.
„The protocols were adopted quickly, which means not only that the machine voting worked, but also that there were no significant errors and problems“, Peneva said.She pointed out that the commission members were in their seats at 7:00 a.m. after a 13-hour workday. According to her, the organization ensured a normal election process for the second consecutive week.
Counting the votes was easier
Peneva said that the machine voting made the work of counting the results easier. She noted that in the sections with over 300 voters, this stage passed without problems, and when necessary, the members of the commissions provided assistance and explanations to the voters while maintaining the secrecy of the vote.
“With the introduction of machine voting, their work is greatly facilitated. You saw how easy the method of counting the votes is“, she said.On election day, Peneva visited sections in Roma communities in Stolipinovo, Ihtiman and Samokov. She stated that she did not see people who wanted to vote but were unable to exercise their right to vote.
Low turnout in polling stations in Samokov and Ihtiman
Regarding the doubts about a controlled vote, Peneva pointed out her personal observations of a very low turnout, although slightly higher than in the previous round.
As an example, she gave three polling stations in Samokov, in which a total of over 2,000 voters were registered. In the previous round, 36 people voted there, while on November 1 their number was about 100.
Peneva stated that the situation was similar in Ihtiman. She recalled that in July and November 2021, when these sections again had fully machine voting, 500-600 people voted in each section.
“The machines were not the reason why people did not go out on a rainy day“, Peneva said.According to her, conversations with representatives of local communities showed a lack of motivation to participate in the vote.