Antonia Sivikova from “PP-DB” and Vanya Alexieva from MK “VMRO-BND (Bulgarian Voice)” with a potential chance to enter the local parliament
Forensic-mathematical expertise will establish whether there is a reshuffle of the municipal councilors in the lists of “We continue the change – Democratic Bulgaria” and MK “VMRO-BND (Bulgarian Voice)” in Blagoevgrad. The expertise was requested by the lawyers of the candidates for municipal councilors, Antonia Sivikova and Vanya Alexieva, who are appealing the results of the preferential vote in the Administrative Court. At today’s court session, an inspection of the paper ballots was carried out in SIK No. 125 in the village of Gabrovo, during which the allegations of incorrectly entered preferences in the lists of MK “VMRO-BND (Voice of Bulgaria)” were confirmed. 7 preferences of the candidate Anna Mazurska were incorrectly noted for Petar Andonov. This was highlighted before when reviewing the video in the section as it was clearly heard and seen that 7 preferences of Anna Mazurska were recorded to Petar Andonov. In the protocol, for No. 106, under which she was, “O” preferences are recorded, and for Andonov under No. 107 – 7 preferences. Both were elected as municipal councilors, but because of Andonov’s wrong result, candidate Vanya Aleksieva was harmed to participate in the rearrangement of preferences, according to the lawyers. Antonia Sivikova’s lawyers are also interested in mathematical expertise, since in the previous meeting, during the counting of the ballots in SIC No. 54 and SIC No. 87, 3 uncounted preferences were found, exactly as many as were needed for her to participate in the rearrangement of the lists and actually to be elected as a municipal councilor by “PP-DB”. Judge Todor Todorov granted the request and appointed a forensic-mathematical examination to determine whether there was a shift in the arrangement in the two lists after the unaccounted preferences were discovered. The request of lawyer Teodor Toshev, representing the elected municipal councilor Petar Andonov in the case, for a judicial review of ballots in five sectional committees for possibly unreported preferences of his, was rejected. The next meeting was scheduled for November 29.
We remind you that the case was initiated based on 5 complaints from four candidates for councilors and the “Continuing the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” Coalition. Two of the contending candidates for councilors, Antonia Sivikova and Magdalena Pruteva, are from the PP-DB Coalition, and the other two – Zlata Rizova and Vanya Alexieva from MK “VMRO-BND (Bulgarian Voice)”.
Zlata Rizova and Magdalena Prteva’s lawyer did not appear at today’s hearing. Most likely, they have lost interest, since no unreported preferences for them were found during the inspection of the ballots.
Betina Apostolova
