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

Rumen Radev

President holds talks for new caretaker prime minister

President Rumen Radev is holding a series of meetings with potential caretaker prime ministers. Meanwhile, acting caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev has announced that he is ready to take up the post. After a meeting with the president, he said..

published on 8/21/24 1:11 PM

Two-thirds of Bulgarians support democracy and EU membership: survey

20.8% of Bulgarians say they want to live under authoritarian rule, another 10% are supporters of communism, indicates a survey conducted by Alpha Research agency commissioned by the Human and Social Studies Foundation-Sofia. 64% of the..

published on 8/21/24 11:50 AM

European Commission asks for clarification regarding the ban on LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in Bulgarian schools

The European Commission has asked Bulgaria’s Minister of Education Galin Tsokov for further information regarding the law, adopted by parliament, banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in Bulgarian schools. Minister Tsokov has two weeks to respond, a European..

published on 8/21/24 10:21 AM