{"id":1089,"date":"2014-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/01-10-2014-bulgaria-vote-buying-and-the-rroma-2\/"},"modified":"2022-07-24T14:01:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-24T13:01:22","slug":"01-10-2014-bulgaria-vote-buying-and-the-rroma-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/01-10-2014-bulgaria-vote-buying-and-the-rroma-2\/","title":{"rendered":"01.10.2014 Bulgaria: vote-buying and the Rroma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sergueva (2014) reports \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton the illegal vote buying in Bulgaria. In the last elections for the European \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tParliament, the problem did become particularly manifest: on the one hand, we \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\thave found that some employees were forced under threat of dismissal by their \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\temployers to select certain parties or candidates. On the other hand, votes of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpeople with low incomes were bought with financial incentives. This was also \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe case with Rroma with low income: \u201cForced \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto survive with a minimum income of 340 leva (174 Euros) per month, Maya \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIvanova did not hesitate for a second to sell her vote for the legislative \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\telections taking place this Sunday in Bulgaria. \u201cWho would reject 50 Leva, today, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin such a misery?\u201d, this 51-year-old woman from a Roma household states, that \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\twas met by AFP in Bobovdol. Only to \u201cus, the Roma, one gives merely one meat dumpling \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand two sandwiches\u201d, she adds: \u201cThe 50 leva are taken by the organizers.\u201d\u201d <\/em>According \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto Transparency International, about 6% of the surveyed voters already have \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsold their vote once. Just as many are ready to do the same. Antony Galabov by \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTransparency International explains this with the very high rate of poverty in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBulgaria. According to estimates, 20% of the population in Bulgaria now lives \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbelow the poverty line. In many Romany ghettos, according to Vania Noucheva from the IMRI institute in Paris, there are usurers whom \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmany slum-dwellers are in debt of and therefore can be extorted votes. Under \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe pressure of the European Union, several countermeasures have been decided \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnow: at the next elections, a thousand persons suspected of vote-buying will be \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmonitored. The notice on the ballot saying \u201cVote-buying is prohibited\u201d exists \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsince 2007, but was not of much use so far, Sergueva states.<\/p>\n