Bulgaria’s President: An Active Information Campaign is Needed for the Machine Vote

President Rumen Radev participated in a working meeting with representatives of the institutions responsible for the preparation and holding of the upcoming early parliamentary elections on October 2.

"It is of great importance for all of us that these elections produce a stable and responsible governing majority that will tackle urgent reforms and make strategic decisions for our country. It is also important that this majority enjoy high legitimacy. Which comes from high voter turnout. High voter turnout requires both an active campaign and commitment of parties and candidates for people's representatives with clear programs and messages to attract voters, as well as responsible work of the election administration and the state, giving confidence in the honesty, transparency and accessibility of the electoral process. First of all, this means increasing trust in machine voting. Machine voting has proven its effectiveness in drastically reducing the invalid vote, and the number of wrong and manipulated protocols also contributed to reducing the bought vote," President Radev said at the beginning of the meeting.

He stated that an active information campaign about machine voting is needed. According to him, a clear methodology, public and transparent actions are needed to give confidence to the parties and citizens in the absence of any manipulations with the machines at all stages of the preparation and conduct of the elections - from storing the machines to loading the software and the keys to transportation, voting, and reporting.

"An active information campaign for machine voting is also necessary, and I hope that all explanatory materials for this campaign will be prepared in time, and accordingly I hope that the media will...