Mathematician and election expert Prof. Mihail Konstantinov is categorical – the formula must certainly include the expected first political force GERB-SDS, PP-DB, which, however, may not be second, as well as DPS. He stated this to “Trud“
“DPS has only one – that around Delyan Peevski. Those who made the “Alliance for Rights and Freedoms” in fact they turned themselves off”, the expert adds.
The machine vote is completely flawed, and the ongoing disputes over it only further reduce the already very low voter turnout. He commented on the ongoing controversy surrounding the machine vote – first the “shopping” between the CEC and the company that maintains the devices, as well as the latest drama over who and how much should pay for the warehouse where they are stored.
“I hope that even the last Bulgarian already understood why Europe does not vote with machines. So much. After all the scandals, people threw the machines away, and we are now dealing with them instead of politics. And then we wonder why our political system is screwed up while we deal with nonsense all the time. Machines do not increase confidence in the electoral process, on the contrary – they are destroying it”, he snapped.
Even though the state has already given tens of millions for the election devices in question, they should be “retired”, the professor believes: “The millions we gave for the machines, someone took them, may they be halal. You know – he who eats the cabbage is not mad, but he who gives it to him.”
Konstantinov also came up with an innovative idea – to introduce voting with a fingerprint, as is the practice in some African countries, and as it was in Europe in the early years of its democratic development.
“I have a suggestion – let's get machines like there are in African countries. There are tablets there, a person goes, puts his thumb on the tablet, if he has the right to vote he does so, if not – no. Then there are no lists, no double voting. And the commission consists of one person, and a policeman with a machine gun is standing guard outside. This is the choice – either we vote like in Europe with paper, or we trust the technology and vote like in Africa. By the way – with a thumb, it is also voted in the Bulgarian parliament. And how much will it cost – one tablet costs about BGN 500, and all together about BGN 15 million. These expenses will be saved already in the first elections because of the lower funds that will be given for the salaries of the commissions”, suggests Mihail Konstantinov.