Политика

The partial mayoral election on February 12, 2005. They returned the municipality of Velingrad to the autumn of 2003. The run-up to the elections and the results are so close to what happened during the regular elections for mayor of the municipality a year and a half ago that they look like a remake and strongly resemble something already seen. And then, as now, Fidel Beev achieved a crushing victory. In 2003 He defeated his competitor Alexander Daskalov by 5,000 votes, and now overtook Atanas Vodev by 4,000 votes.
Voter turnout was also similar to the runoff in 2003, even slightly larger. On February 12, 22,054 out of 35,975 eligible voters voted. Much more active were the voters in the villages, where in places a turnout of between 70 and 80 percent was reached. Significantly, out of a total of 13,759 voters in the mayoralties, 9998 voted, with over 80% of them supporting Fidel Beev. In Velingrad out of a total of 22,216 voters their right to vote exercised only 12,017, of which over 7,700 people elected Atanas Vodev.
This led to a repeat of what happened for the first time in 2003: in Velingrad convincingly, with a difference of over 3,600 votes, one candidate-mayor (Atanas Vodev) won, but the final result was decided by the votes from the mayoralties in favor of Fidel Beev. The paradox is that with a much larger number of voters in Velingrad, the de facto mayor of the municipality again finds himself elected by the people from the villages plus the town of Sarnitsa. Similar to the 2003 vote. and the current one is heading towards a legal challenge. From the election headquarters of Atanas Vodev in an official statement to the Municipal Election Commission announced that they do not recognize the elections (the statement we publish separately). This is the position of 9 political parties that supported the independent candidate.
Grounds for forecasting that the vote goes to court again is the decision of nine of the 11 members of the Municipal Election Commission to sign the minutes of the elections with a dissenting opinion. On Monday morning, OIC officials travelled to Sofia to hand over the minutes of the elections to the Central Commission for Local Elections (CECMI). Only then will the OIC decide to issue a certificate to Fidel Beev as the winner of the election. Mr. Beev insisted to the OIC to receive his certificate as early as Sunday, then during the night he reached the chairman of the CECMI.
After the new mayor's certificate is issued, there is a 7-day time limit within which he can be appealed in court. If that happens, the 2005 election will be a true remake of the 2003 election.
Tempo