News

There is a  need for a monitoring of the election process in Bulgaria due to several factors:

The amendments to the Election Code adopted by the National Assembly limit the realization of the direct and representative democracy, weaken and destabilize the local self-governance system, serve partisan interests. There is a  systematic and deliberate restriction of the representative democracy in the local self-governance. The amendments are of big importance since it is a question not only of limitation, narrowing but in some cases of the almost complete abolishment of the representative democracy.

The liquidation of the elections for area mayors in the bigger cities, the reduction of the municipal councilors by 20 % and the lack of elections for mayors in the villages with less than 350 inhabitants are changes which are considered to be a step back from the decentralization of power. This process is a leading and lasting European practice.

In its governance the government and many Members of Parliament use the negative attitudes of society, the radical attitudes of the pushed into despair and poverty people. Many experts define these methods as extremely dangerous. Dangerous because that is how not only the centralism and authoritarianism are born but even worse this is how the civil society is being destroyed.

Under the current project “For democratic, transparent and fair elections”, funded by FEPS, ISI`s team carried out within 3 months media monitoring of the election process. The results of this monitoring were announced through reports at special press-conferences. At present the results of the monitoring of the election day have been processed. This monitoring was held by ISI in partnership with the Civil Initiative for Free and Democratic Elections and a network of 200 observers.

The final report of the project will follow.