BULGARIA: Boiko Borisov, the leader of Bulgaria's centre-right GERB, says the party wants the election result cancelled because of a "violation"
Record ID:
863401
BULGARIA: Boiko Borisov, the leader of Bulgaria's centre-right GERB, says the party wants the election result cancelled because of a "violation"
- Title: BULGARIA: Boiko Borisov, the leader of Bulgaria's centre-right GERB, says the party wants the election result cancelled because of a "violation"
- Date: 16th May 2013
- Summary: SOFIA, BULGARIA (MAY 16, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF BOIKO BORISOV, LEADER OF BULGARIA'S GERB PARTY AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) BOIKO BORISOV, LEADER OF "GERB" PARTY, SAYING: "Today or tomorrow GERB will appeal to the constitutional court and seek the cancellation of the election. There is no other such case in history when a winning party which can form the government, asks for the elections to be declared invalid. Our reason is the gross violation of the law in the day before the vote." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Bulgarian) BOIKO BORISOV, LEADER OF "GERB" PARTY, SAYING: "We won the elections and want it to be declared invalid because we have no doubt that all parties broke the law banning campaigning on the day before the vote." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE / BORISOV'S PHOTOS ON WALL
- Embargoed: 31st May 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Bulgaria
- City:
- Country: Bulgaria
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVACRCJ79FBGVHPVS3V6MDPOO36I
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- Story Text: Bulgaria's centre-right GERB, which won most parliamentary seats in Sunday's (May 12) vote, wants the election result cancelled because of a "violation", its leader Boiko Borisov said on Thursday (May 16).
GERB won 97 seats in the 240-member parliament and says support was hit by an announcement from state prosecutors on Saturday (May 11), when campaigning is banned before voting, that illegal ballots were found at a printing shop owned by one of its councillors.
The party, which resigned from government after February street protests against low living standards in the European Union's poorest country, has little chance of forming a government because other groups refuse to work with it.
"Today or tomorrow GERB will appeal to the constitutional court and seek the cancellation of the election. there is no other such case in history when a winning party which can form the government, asks for the elections to be declared invalid. Our reason is the gross violation of the law in the day before the vote," said Borisov at a news conference in Sofia.
"We won the elections and want it to be declared invalid because we have no doubt that all parties broke the law banning campaigning on the day before the vote," he added.
If the constitutional court does not rule before the new parliament is convened, which the president hopes to do by the end of May, GERB will try and form a minority government even though it knows it will not be voted in by parliament, Borisov said.
An alliance of Socialists and the ethnic Turkish MRF party are one seat short of a majority and may seek support from individual GERB MPs and nationalists Attack. They will only have the chance to do so once GERB has tried and failed to form an administration. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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