Former Prime Minister and co-chairman of We Continue the Change party Kiril Petkov called the return to the use of paper ballots, planned by several political parties “effrontery”.

In his words, the mixed system – paper ballots and voting machines – affords one more way to control vote buying. In an interview with Nova TV, gave as an example the 2015 election when there were more than 460,000 invalid votes.

Meanwhile a protest was organized in front of the National Assembly building against the return to the old voting method using paper ballots. Activists from several parties and movements not represented in parliament spread out copies of election tally sheets from previous elections when paper ballots were used, filled in with many mistakes.

“We are here to raise the alarm that the status quo is coming back, with the help of the “paper” coalition GERB, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Bulgarian Rise,” commented Maya Manolova, leader of Stand up, Bulgaria!