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DE RUEHSF #0342/01 1831001
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O 021001Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6133
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SOFIA 000342 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIA: VOTE FRAUD 2009 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Corruption in Bulgaria is deep-seated, 
but post-transition elections have generally been free and 
fair.  The last two cycles have produced more extensive 
electoral fraud.  This year, it is more widespread and 
sophisticated, reaching levels in which vote buyers can 
fine-tune results across the country.  NGOs estimate 10-16 
percent of votes in the recent European Parliament (EP) 
elections were "controlled."  Government counter-actions have 
had minimal effect and Bulgarians still seem to regard vote 
fraud as they do other forms of corruption, part of life they 
can do nothing about.  The practice will not affect the 
balance between the major parties in the July 5 elections, 
but may seriously affect the smaller parties they need to 
form a coalition, and bring a greater number of unsavory 
characters into the parliament and possibly the government. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
VOTES FOR SALE 
-------------- 
¶2.  (SBU) A staggering number of the Bulgarian electorate is 
willing to sell its vote.  In a poll conducted by the 
Bulgarian branch of the Open Society Institute, 6 percent of 
Bulgarians think that vote buying is normal and permissible 
in any circumstance, 15 percent are more inclined than not to 
sell their vote, and 14 percent are hesitant but would not 
rule out selling their vote.  The average price per vote is 
50 euros, but can vary widely depending on the region or 
circumstances.  Prices are substantially lower in the 
northwestern regions of the country and nearly twice as high 
in the central and southern regions.  In some poorer 
communities, most notably Roma districts, votes can sometimes 
be bought for as little as BGN 5 or some grilled meat.  In 
smaller communities, vote buyers may buy votes by the 
hundreds, as legislation allowing public access to records 
makes it easy for vote buyers in small municipalities to 
verify the way clients have voted. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) According to data compiled by the 
Citizens'Coalition for Free and Democratic Choice, roughly 
16.4 percent, or about 400,000 votes were either purchased or 
controlled in the EP elections.  Police stated that they 
recieved complaints about vote buying from across the 
country, particularly in the areas around Plovdiv, Montana, 
Vidin, Pazardjik, and Sofia. 
 
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS DONE 
---------------------------- 
¶4.  (SBU) The GOB has tried to combat vote buying through 
amendments to its criminal law code, but legislation thus far 
is not comprehensive.  In theory, as of April 2009 anyone 
found to be implicated in a vote buying scheme would be 
investigated by the State Agency for National Security, the 
Interior Ministry, and the Prosecutor's Office.  Offenders 
could also be subject to a prison sentence of 1-3 
years as well as a fine between BGN 1,000 and BGN 10,000.  In 
more serious cases an offender can be sentenced up to 6 years 
in jail and a BGN 2,000 fine.  During the EP elections 
earlier this month, only 5 cases out of 71 registered with 
police actually went to court. 
 
EXPECTIONS FOR VOTE BUYING 
-------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) According to Transparency International's Bulgaria 
surveys: 25 out of 100 Bulgarians would sell their votes 
during the upcoming general elections to any party that 
offered them money.  Twenty-seven percent say they would 
accept such offers because they need money, while 13 percent 
claim they would take the money but vote for another party, 
as voting is secret.  According to the same TI survey, 20.9 
percent of Roma, 7.7 percent of Turks, and 2.9 percent of 
Bulgarian voters are willing to sell their vote. 
 
VOTING ABROAD 
------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) On June 17, the MFA established 258 polling places 
(there were 433 in 2005) abroad, almost half of which are 
located in Turkey.  Many political parties cry foul, pointing 
to 123 polling stations in Turkey to serve the approximately 
240,000 Bulgarians living there (in 2005 there were 76) but 
only three polling stations in Greece, where 380,000 
Bulgarians live and only one in Illinois where 220,000 
Bulgarians reside.  Four years ago there were 50 polling 
places in the United States and now there are 
15; there were 33 in Spain and now there are 16.  Opposition 
parties and local NGOs alike demanded to know if the MFA 
lacks resources to monitor and manage the overseas vote, and 
suggest that the MFA supports a predetermined outcome of the 
vote in Turkey (which will likely vote for the MRF, a junior 
partner in the current government). 
 
 
SOFIA 00000342  002 OF 003 
 
 
CONTROLLED OR CORPORATE VOTE 
---------------------------- 
¶7.  (SBU) Local experts predict an increase in the corporate 
vote, i.e., pressure on workers to vote for a certain party 
under the threat of dismissal.  LIDER is the party that 
raised the most serious doubts for vote buying and controlled 
voting.  Even though there is no formal evidence of such 
activity, there are two marked trends in voter support that 
justify these doubts.  LIDER won almost 147,000 votes in the 
regions of Burgas, Kyustendil, Vratsa, Pernik, and Stara 
Zagora.  LIDER's connections to these regions are the 
businesses of energy oligarch and informal party leader 
Hristo Kovachki.  A Bulgarian NGO, Elect on Your Own, stated 
that industrial workers had been threatened to vote for 
certain political parties or else they would be fired -- 
pointing out that most cases were in areas near Kovachki's 
plants.  Local media and NGOs state that in addition to votes 
from Kovachki's employees, LIDER has a disproportionately 
high number of Roma supporters.  According to an exit poll 
conducted by Alpha Research, a surprising 10 percent of Roma 
voted for the LIDER party during the MEP election. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Agricultural networks have been established in 
favor of political parties.  Large Agricultural companies 
will only buy from small producers if the small producers 
vote for certain parties.  This is commonly associated with 
the MRF. 
 
VOTER TOURISM 
------------- 
¶9.  (SBU) According to Antony Galabov of the Civil Society 
Coalition for Free and Democratic Elections, "voter tourism," 
both external and internal, will also appear in this 
election.  This method was typically used by the MRF in 
busing supporters from Turkey to vote in Bulgaria.  A newer 
type of voter tourism is what Galabov coined "internal 
tourism," in which parties bus or send supporters from 
smaller districts to larger voting districts -- such as Sofia 
-- to ensure higher votes, especially in the single seat 
majoritarian districts. 
 
CLASSIC VOTE BUYING AND COUNTING FRAUD 
-------------------------------------- 
¶10.  (SBU) According to the recent TI survey, the most common 
form of vote buying, 45 percent, is offering cash in front of 
election polls.  The same survey showed that showed that 20 
percent of vote buying incidents involved payments of delayed 
salaries, either in the wake of the election or during 
Election Day, while 15 percent of vote buying was in the form 
of giving away food or other goods. 
According to Galabov, "Roma bosses" use personal possessions 
for collateral so that people are obligated to vote how they 
are told.  Local media reports note that voters prove their 
vote by taking a mobile phone picture of their filled-in 
ballot or the vote-buyer may provide the individual with a 
filled-in ballot, in exchange for an empty ballot to be 
brought back on election day. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Owing to anomalies and weaknesses in Bulgaria's 
election laws, how votes are counted can also be manipulated. 
 Ballots can be taken to sick or infirm voters, not all CEC 
members need to be present when ballots are cast in those 
circumstances and not all need be present when boxes are 
opened in small towns.  NGOs argued for opening ballot boxes 
at regional levels to ensure better oversight, but did not 
prevail.  One TI contact noted it was cheaper to buy the 
local election commission than to buy individual votes. 
 
OBSERVERS 
--------- 
¶12.  (SBU) Bulgaria's Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has 
registered 19 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
Council of Europe (PACE) for the July 5 parliamentary 
elections.  The OSCE will deploy a core team in Sofia and 12 
long-term observers seconded by OSCE participating states as 
well.  The Bulgarian Civil Society Coalition for Free and 
Democratic elections will send 500 election 
observers to polling stations across the country. These 
numbers are too few to capture the breadth and depth of the 
problem.  Moreover, enforcement of vote buying legislation 
has not inspired confidence even when cases have been clearly 
identified. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Vote buying here will be more 
widespread, more sophisticated and more pernicious 
than before and certainly higher than EU norms.  It will 
distort the race by boosting the strength of smaller parties 
necessary for coalition formation.  And it will feed citizen 
cynicism of the integrity of the electoral process and 
integrity of outcome.  Without vigorous preventive measures 
 
SOFIA 00000342  003 OF 003 
 
 
and enforcement, this shapes up as Bulgaria,s dirtiest 
post-transition election.  END SUMMARY. 
 
McEldowney