The CEC has adopted a decision that all Municipal Election Commissions (MECs) are obliged to implement, and there will be no machine voting in the country. I don't understand why MEC-Sofia decided to vote with machines.
The CEC has not given permission for the voting machines to leave the warehouse. Who gave permission for the machines to go around the country - this question must be answered by the Minister of Internal Affairs.
This is what Rositsa Mateva, the spokesperson and deputy chairman of the CEC, told the national broadcaster BTV.
In previous years, the CEC always gave permission for the machines to leave the warehouse.
"Last night, after the meeting of the CEC, we found out from TV reports that the machines left the warehouse without the proper permission, and we immediately gave instructions to the gendarmerie and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to return the machines to the warehouse and seal it", Mateva added. "All the machines must be returned to the warehouse, and now I understand that the MEC did not understand to return the machines to the warehouse. Today, the CEC will contact the Ministry of the Interior to ask why the decision of the CEC is not being implemented", Mateva further specified.
This decision was reached after the Chairman of the CEC was provided with a decision of the State Agency for National Security (SANS). "When the agency responsible for the national security of the country provided such information about the election process, we discussed the data first in the Central Election Commission, then with the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Minister of e-Government. The e-Government Minister explained that he would not sign the protocols for the certification of the machines, and explained that the Deputy Minister had given written explanations to him that confirmed the data contained in the SANS report. After this information, and after last night at 8:00 p.m. we received a letter from the Ministry of e-Government that the conformity of the machines was not certified - and this is a condition for machine voting, the CEC adopted this decision", Mateva explained.
"The information that the minister photographed the hash code is not correct. On October 20, at the Ministry of e-Government, in a secure environment, the source code and the hash code were created, and published on the Ministry of e-Government page. This hash code is displayed everywhere and is said to have been public. But it's not about that - it's about completely different actions. On Monday, October 23, in a secure environment, access to the source code was granted to all parties and coalitions, as required by the Election Code. After these procedures, in violation of all the rules, the deputy minister performed actions that give reasons to be unsure what software is installed on the machines", Mateva added. There is enough data that led the CEC to make its decision to ban machine voting. There is enough information in the SANS report to convince us to make this decision", concluded Mateva. /BGNES
