Fundamental freedoms generally respected in competitive Bulgarian elections, but shortcomings in media environment, lack of issue-driven campaign fail to engage voters, international observers say
12/07/2021 Election observation
Bulgaria’s early parliamentary elections were competitive and fundamental freedoms were generally respected, international observers said in a statement today.
The campaign environment was dominated by mutual
accusations of corruption between the former ruling party and the provisional
government, as well as by efforts by law-enforcement to curb vote-buying, the
statement says.
The elections were conducted under a legal framework which, though overall
adequate, was substantially revised shortly before the elections, straining
electoral preparations and affecting legal certainty, the observers said. The
technical aspects of the elections were managed efficiently, despite the
compressed timeframe, the COVID-19 pandemic and the late adoption of some
important procedural regulations.
“These elections have taken place amid persistent public mistrust in the political
establishment, mostly stemming from widespread allegations of corruption and an
unsuccessful attempt to form a government following the elections in April,”
said Artur Gerasymov, special co-ordinator and leader of the OSCE short-term
observers. “Moreover, political influence and the high concentration of media
ownership had a negative effect on editorial policies and on media pluralism
overall. The lack of comprehensive journalistic reporting limited voters’
ability to make an informed choice.”
The activities of the provisional government and of the former ruling party,
GERB, dominated media coverage, overshadowing that of the campaign and of other
contestants. The lack of investigation of attacks on journalists, coupled with
the criminalisation of defamation, contributes to self-censorship.
“Yesterday’s process in polling stations was well organised, but an election is
not to be assessed on election day alone. The recent significant amendments,
introduced very quickly and just a short time before the elections, brought
mandatory machine voting, without the carrying out of a study on its use in the
April 4 elections,” said Alfred Heer (Switzerland, ALDE), Head of the
delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“While the use of new technologies in electoral processes can be considered as
a positive development, nevertheless the PACE delegation is convinced that new
technologies alone cannot restore Bulgarians’ trust in a truly democratic
electoral process and cannot, on their own, exclude cases of political
corruption, scandals and other long-standing problems. The Assembly, through
its monitoring procedure, and the Venice Commission remain ready to co-operate
with Bulgaria to improve the legal framework and electoral practices.”
Amendments to election laws in May introduced mandatory machine voting for most
voters, established a new Central Election Commission (CEC), and removed
limitations on establishing polling stations abroad. The change to voting only
with voting machines at polling stations with at least 300 registered voters,
both in-country and abroad, was introduced as an effort to reduce the
opportunity for electoral malfeasance, including vote-buying.
There were concerns, however, that the lack of timely and comprehensive voter
education on machine voting might have dissuaded some elderly voters and others
with limited computer literacy from voting. While machine-printed result sheets
served as official results, the law does not include a mechanism for verifying the
machine tallies, thus affecting transparency.
In the polling stations visited on election day, voting was generally in line
with prescribed procedures. Machine voting was generally uninterrupted, with
malfunctions requiring the voting to continue with the use of paper ballots
reported in only 0.5 percent of polling stations.
“Despite the short timeframe for preparations, the establishment of a new
Central Election Commission and the expanded use of voting machines, the
elections were generally well administered,” said Elona Gjebrea Hoxha, Head of
the delegation from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. “However, with the
broadened use of these technologies, there will also be a need for further
voter education, in order to increase proficiency and confidence in election
voting technology.”
“Responding to long-standing allegations of vote-buying, a widespread but
elusive problem, has received unprecedented government attention, with the
Minister of the Interior providing public updates on the cases of vote-buying
under investigation.” said Tana de Zulueta, Head of the limited election
observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights. “At the same time, legislative shortcomings and limited reporting
requirements and enforcement reduced the transparency and accountability of
campaign finance.”
In a generally inclusive process, the election administration registered some
5,086 candidates from 23 parties and coalitions, and 29 per cent of candidates
were women. Although the election administration carried out its duties
adequately and met most legal deadlines, there were some concerns that the
CEC’s partisan composition and lack of institutional capacity to match its
legal powers affected efficient decision-making on contentious issues.
