Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Voting machine scandal as election campaign draws to a close

E-Government Minister Alexander Yolovskiл
Photo: BGNES

Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel and representatives of the Central Electoral Commission will be heard at an emergency meeting of Parliament's presiding body, (including the Parliament Chair and his deputies, and the floor leaders of the parties). 

The State Agency for National Security has reported that a deputy minister for e-government videotaped the process of generating the codes for the voting machines. 

Desislava Atanasova, leader of the GERB-SDS parliamentary group, said. "I hope that We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria will distance itself from this person," Atanasova added.

Toshko Yordanov, leader of the "There Is Such a People" parliamentary group, said that the voting machines had been compromised in this way and described it as a "coup d'état". 

"The machines have obviously been compromised by this report," Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of Vazrazhdane, told journalists in parliament, calling for the government's resignation. 

Delyan Peevski, co-leader of the MRF parliamentary group, said that the machines should not be used on Sunday so as not to disrupt the local vote, and called for the deputy minister to be sacked.

At a special press conference, E-Government Minister Alexander Yolovski said that the source code of the machines had not been compromised.

"The key used to digitally sign the software on the machines is held by three members of the Central Election Commission, each of whom has a third of the password. Each of them enters their own code, which only they know, and this is one third of the whole password," CEC spokesperson Rositsa Mateva told reporters at a briefing.


Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Wages in tourism up 20%, says minister

The salaries of people employed in the summer tourist season have risen by 20% , according to caretaker Tourism Minister Evtim Miloshev. He told BNR that the shortage of workers in the industry was not only due to poor pay, which he said was not poor at..

published on 7/7/24 4:36 PM
Николай Денков

The proposal for a technocratic cabinet has its upsides and downsides, says former PM Nikolay Denkov

The proposal by the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria for a technocracy has its advantages, but also its problems, which is why it should be discussed carefully, said the leader of the parliamentary group We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria..

published on 7/7/24 2:01 PM
Atanas Atanasov, the leader of DSB.

Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria: PP-DB should ask for third mandate and nominate a technocratic cabinet

The Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party is proposing to its partners in the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) coalition that they seek a third exploratory mandate and try to form a technocratic cabinet that would "guarantee the..

published on 7/7/24 12:20 PM