Hours before the elections in our country – a wave of applications for changes in the composition of the sectional election commissions throughout the country. It got to the point where the Central Election Commission sent instructions not to make last-minute substitutions. Exceptions are only possible for compelling reasons such as the resignation of a chairman or illness, for example.
The most striking is the situation in Haskovo, where the local election commission was the first to decide to introduce an unprecedented measure – to stop and ban the substitutions. The commission has been overwhelmed with requests for replacement in more than 100 sections in Haskovo – or a third of all members in the district.
Because of the situation that has arisen, quite a few of the sections in Haskovo will almost certainly work with a reduced staff tomorrow, which is allowed by law, but it will significantly complicate the process. The Regional Election Commission in Haskovo hopes that it will not at least lead to situations where the election day cannot start in some places. The commission stated that in more than 90% of the cases, the requested shifts have no reasons.
The applications are mainly from two parties, which even today, despite the decision to stop the shifts, continued to insist on them. Today, an unusually large number of buses with emigrants from Turkey arrive at the bus station in Haskovo.
Mass change of members of sectional election commissions and their management bodies in Blagoevgradsko as well. In the last 24 hours alone, the Regional Election Commission has decided to replace more than 50% of the SIKs in the 14 municipalities in the region. At least at this stage, there is no danger that sections in places in the region will not open tomorrow.
However, the concerns of the Regional Election Commission in Blagoevgrad are that at the beginning of the election day, it will be necessary to make new shifts in the composition of the sectional commissions in order for the election day to pass normally, writes BNT.
For the last week, more than 3,000 people, named by the parties as members of sections, have been replaced. The CEC tried to find a temporary solution to this problem by sending instructions, but according to our team’s information, applications for shifts continue to be received at RIC-Blagoevgrad.
Another case from today – one of the vice-presidents of RIC-Blagoevgrad has resigned from his post. With what motives – it is not yet clear.