The leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov, voted in the late afternoon in Bankya, demonstrating that he is angry with his partners from the governing assembly – PP-DB. He called their candidate for Sofia Vasil Terziev “ungrateful” because he misinterpreted his words and revealed the secret of his vote without hesitation. Borisov explained that he voted for the district mayor in Bankya Rangel Markov from GERB and for Terziev.
At the same time, he accused the PP-DB of entering into princeless coalitions elsewhere in the country. Borisov also said that for him the elections in Sofia ended last week, when GERB candidate Anton Hekimyan came in third place. Now he was just keeping his promise. The GERB leader called for voting for Terziev on the last day of the campaign, but explained that he did so out of obligation. And regarding Terziev’s comment that he was probably joking, he said:
“He is ungrateful. I got his number right now. So convey to him, if that is how he interpreted it“.
In the last week, Borisov tried to maintain intrigue with his possible support for the PP-DB candidate. On the day of the vote, he also expressed doubts about the machine voting and therefore asked for a paper ballot. On the occasion of the cancellation of the machines last week, the leader of GERB stated that the Deputy Minister of Electronic Management, Mihail Stoinov, should have resigned, and not the resignation of the heads of DANS, who reported his actions.
Borisov now suspects that there is a scheme to replace the machines – one device is declared damaged and replaced by another. However, if someone has the code for the second one, they could manipulate it. The leader of GERB stated that he was impressed that the machines break the most in Sofia and Varna.
Earlier the candidates for Mayor of Sofia Vanya Grigorova (BSP) and Vasil Terziev (PP-DB) exercised their right to vote. Grigorova released the bulletin in “Kv. Hristo Botev”, and in Terziev – in “Mladost”.
“Today I voted for a free and democratic city, free from corporate dependencies, a city where everyone has the freedom to be who they are and not be bothered about it“, said the BSP candidate. She voted with a paper ballot.
Terziev said that he hopes for a higher voter turnout in the first round. He voted by machine.
Terziev commented that every vote rendered renders the outrage meaningless.
“500 thousand invalid votes is an outrage. 15-16% of ballots cast being invalid is abnormal“, he said on the occasion of the results of the first round.
In Varna GERB candidate Ivan Portnich stated that every vote in his support is a vote for “independent Varna, against hidden business and corporate interests“. Portnich, who has ruled the city for years, now speaks of “restart development“.
His opponent Blagomir Kotsev from the PP-DB called on people to vote by machine.
“Many things have been done in Varna, but many times more can be done. I believe that in the life of each of us there are key moments and we should not miss them. Today is one such momenthe stated.
In Plovdiv PP-DB candidate Ivaylo Staribratov stated that he voted for honest and transparent city management.
“Today, a historical problem is being solved, which should be solved by the inhabitants of the city, not by others. I think that in the next hours the citizens will become more activehe stated.
Kostadin Dimitrov from GERB voted with a paper ballot, but with the clarification that he is not against the machine vote. He commented that he voted for a clean and orderly city.
“I voted for a modern European capital, which Sofia should be“, said the Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov. He urged people to go to the polls and vote for whoever they wanted to run their city.
“Personally, I voted today not to compare Sofia with either Moscow or Troyan“, said the co-chairman of the PP Kiril Petkov. The former prime minister also stated that one should vote for the future, not for nostalgia.
This vote will determine the direction of the city’s development, commented the co-chairman of the DB Hristo Ivanov. According to his words, the vote cast by him is for “modern, European Sofia, which is developing with rapid steps forward, which realizes its enormous potential, does not look back, but looks forward“.
President Rumen Radev cast his vote by machine and called on the institutions to restore confidence in this type of voting because it has proven to be effective against electoral fraud.
“I hope that after these elections a thorough analysis of everything that happened will be done so that it does not happen again. The responsible institutions should do their analysis and clear report to see where things went wrong to arrive at this low voter turnout“, the head of state said.
The BSP leader Cornelia Ninova said she voted for a “clean, orderly, secure and peaceful” Sofia, but expressed concern over the low voter turnout.
“This apathy and reluctance to vote makes our institutions weakly legitimate”she said.
