site.btaPresident Calls on Parties to Campaign on Competing Programmes to Bring Out the Votes

Increasing voter turnout in the elections and achieving high legitimacy of the vote would require the parties and candidates for MPs to build their campaigns on competing programmes and workable solutions to the crises, rather than on personal attacks, said President Rumen Radev during a meeting with representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The meeting was also attended by Vice President Iliana Iotova, the President's Press Secretariat reported Tuesday.

On August 31, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights with the OSCE launched a mission to monitor the October 2 snap parliamentary elections.

Radev said that Bulgaria needs a stable regular government and a functioning parliament, so that strategic decisions for the country can be made and followed through. The meeting agenda also included the voting machines' credibility, which citizens accept as a factor in lowering the high percentage of invalid ballots recorded in the past, and in countering vote-buying and corporate votes.

The Head of State called for the parties to avoid burning bridges during the election campaign, because of the future need to cooperate in the formation of a government.

The OSCE representatives raised questions on the organization and conduct of the elections, as well as the course of the election campaign with messages to counter vote-buying.