Истината

The Municipal Election Commission completed the adoption of documents of parties and coalitions for participation in local elections exactly in the legal term - 19 hours on 20 September. No political force or initiative committee had left the filing of the documents until the last moment. According to official information from the OIC, 36 parties and 18 independent candidates for municipal councilors have submitted documents for participation in the elections for the Municipal Council. So far, the OIC has registered 11 independent candidates and 1 party list. For participation in the election for mayor of the municipality of Velingrad have submitted documents 15 parties, 1 coalition and 7 initiative committees. By September 20, the OIC had registered 6 mayoral candidates. According to a decision of the CECMI, municipal election commissions are not allowed to announce the names of candidates until September 25 inclusive.
What lies behind the announced numbers of candidates for mayors and municipal councilors? If all parties that have expressed a desire to participate make their own lists plus 18 independent the number of lists for municipal councillors will be 54. Never before has there been such a large number of lists for councilors in Velingrad. For comparison: in the previous elections in 1999. There were 24 parties and independent candidates in total. In the case of mayoral candidates, the number will reach 23 if all 15 parties register their candidate by September 25. It is possible for some parties to opt out of this move, so the exact number of mayoral candidates will be known only after the deadline has passed. In the 1995 election. There were two candidates for mayor of Velingrad, and in 1999. 9 were competing.
The situation in Rakitovo is similar. 25 parties registered there to participate in the vote for the Municipal Council. The candidates for mayor are likely to be 11, but so far 1 independent and two on behalf of parties have been registered. Major players are expected to claim participation this week.
In any case, the record high number of candidates foreshadows a heavy draw for ballot numbers, printing a huge number of ballots, difficult orienteering of voters, and even more difficult counting in sectional election commissions. And precisely because of the many participants and the expected scattering of votes, this time counting will be more important than ever.
Tempo