After the government resigned and the country faced new early elections, the topic of voting rules has once again come up on the agenda. The president begins consultations with political forces on Monday, and the main question remains whether there is time for changes to the Electoral Code that would guarantee the fairness of the process.
"It is imperative that changes have already been adopted. From now on, some changes can be made that are of a technical nature and do not require much time for the preparation of the election administration," said election expert Stoil Stoilov, quoted by NOVA.
In the program "Crossroads" Stoilov emphasized the long-standing problem with the qualification of members of the Sectional Election Commissions (SEC). He recalled that the idea of introducing an educational qualification dates back to 2016, but was rejected by the Legal Committee in parliament at that time.
According to the expert, the minimum requirements for committee members should guarantee basic mathematical literacy.
"The educational qualification will solve part of the problem to the extent that we can be sure that they can add and subtract three-digit numbers and, when adding and subtracting them, know where to write them down", Stoilov emphasized, quoted by NOVA.
Stoilov also commented on the tension surrounding the Constitutional Court's decision on the legality of the last elections. He categorically refuted the widespread speculation that the magistrates declared the vote "stolen" or completely rigged.
"Contrary to many messages I have heard recently that the Constitutional Court said that the elections were stolen, rigged, etc., I want to say that there is no such thing", the expert specified.
According to him, the court has carried out a precise analysis of the specific complaints and cases, without questioning the overall legitimacy of the electoral process. Stoilov insisted on a thorough review of all court decisions on election cases from the last local and parliamentary votes in order to identify weaknesses in the system.