Binley to oversee Bulgarian elections

Brian Binley MP for Northampton South is leading a delegation from the Council of Europe to oversee elections in Bulgaria this week.

Bulgaria elects at national level a head of state- The President, and a legislature. The Presidential elections take place in the Country this Sunday and current President Gerogi Parvanov’s second term expires in January 2012, meaning he is ineligible to stand in this election as Presidents can only serve a maximum of two five year terms.

18 candidates are in the running for the Presidency and all 23 political parties in Bulgaria have declared their participation in the election. The favourite for President is Rosen Plevneliev and Margarita Popova for Vice President from the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) Party first formed in 2006.

The party was the decisive winner of the 2009 Parliamentary election and is led by the Mayor of Sofia Boyko Borisov.

Brian said: “I am very proud to be leading this delegation to Bulgaria. There are 11 other Members of the Council of Europe on the trip along with secretariat support and also Members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.”

“We are going to meet with the election candidates and their representatives, the Chairperson of the Central Election Commission and NGO’s prior to the election before deploying throughout the Country on Sunday to observe the conduct of the ballot.”

“Bulgaria is subject to ‘post monitoring dialogue’ with the Council of Europe and I will be reporting back to the Council on my findings at a meeting in Edinburgh at the end of November as part of the ongoing process.”