Again, there are suspicions about the voting patterns of several Roma villages and neighbourhoods in the region of Kyustendil, Bulgaria. Recounts are being started.
Delyan Peevski’s “DPS-New Beginning” gathered the most votes in the large Roma neighborhoods in Sofia – “Filipovtsi” and “Hristo Botev”. In Plovdiv and Varna, the populist GERB party apprently won in the Roma neighbourhoods in Plovdiv and Varna.
Another article, showing that the “DPS-New Beginning” is edging ahead in the Roma vote in the current Bulgarian elections.
An article whereby a Romano “baron” threatened the journalist Maria Tsantsarova from B TV after she had been investigating vote buying.
The Bulgarian Police raided the Sliven Roma district “Nadezhda” and blocked all exits for several hours. They apparently found notebooks with names and money amounts pointing to possible vote buying in the upcoming Bulgarian elections.
It is a common theme that Roma vote are there to be bought in Bulgaria.
With the upcoming elections in Bulgaria, the visit of a politician Kiril Petkov, to a Roma settlement, prompted accusations that he was trying to buy votes. The article says he met with the “Romani Barons” and moneylenders who are know vote buyers…
Romani men and women who ran for office in this year’s Czech regional elections were unsuccessful, and none of them will sit in regional councils. Elections in so-called socially excluded localities have traditionally been characterized by low turnout. However, it cannot be automatically concluded that the Roma as a whole did not go to vote, because not all Roma live in the excluded localities. From the statistics of the Czech Statistical Office, it is not possible to determine how many Roma participated in the elections and who they voted for.
Regional elections will take place on Friday and Saturday in 13 regions of the Czech Republic, with the exception of Prague. In the capital city, the function of the regional council is performed by the Prague City Council, which is elected in municipal elections. Voters in these counties will begin selecting their county representatives tomorrow afternoon. In a third of the state territory, including three Prague districts, they will also have the opportunity to decide on their senators.
Let’s see how many Roma are elected this time.
The news server Romea.cz provided a detailed analysis of the results of the European Parliament elections from the point of view of the Roma minority through a special podcast. Journalists, political analysts and representatives of the Roma community took part in the discussion.
The results of the EP elections from the point of view of the Roma were evaluated on Wednesday evening by: journalist Jarmila Balážová, political scientist Edita Stejskalová, former social worker Jan Houška and founder of the Be Heard initiative Petr Banda. The podcast was presented by Zdeněk Ryšavý, editor-in-chief of the news server Romea.cz.
For the first time since 2004, there are no Roma representatives from Eastern Europe. There were several candidates for the European Parliament from different countries:
Czech Republic: David Beňák for the ANO movement, Ivana Batthyány for the Left and Jaroslav Miko for the Mayors.
Slovakia: Peter Pollák and Dominik Lakatoš for the Volt party.
Hungary: Bogdán Csaba from the Tiszla movement.
Bukgaria: Vanya Grigorová
They all failed to be elected.
The European Parliament elections in Slovakia were won by the Progresivne Slovensko (PS) movement, which won six mandates, followed by the Smer-SD party, which will be represented by five MPs, the Republika party (founded by former party members Marian Kotleba), which won two mandates, the Christian Democratic Movement with one mandate and the Hlas – social democracy party (whose former chairman Peter Pellegrini will sit in the presidential palace), which also won one mandate. The Roma candidates failed.
A reportage on a small town close to the Polish border where many Roma were moved into a dilapidated housing estate and did not vote in the European elections. They either are not registered in that town, or simply have no idea what elections were held.
The president of the Roma Foundation of Europe is appealing politicians to involve Roma in upcoming European elections. He says there are more Roma in Europe than citizen of several smaller European countries, and that in several places, they make 10% of the population.
On Wednesday, June 5, Romani internet television, ROMEA TV, broadcasted a live debate of three Romani candidates running for seats in the European Parliament. All candidates accepted the invitation to the debate: Ivana Batthyány (Left), David Beňák (ANO) and Jaroslav Miko (STAN).
Dr. Tsvetan Tsenkov, the Mayor of the Vidin municipality, has decided to move the 8 polling stations that traditionally were located in the Roma neighbourhood of Nov Pat, to other parts of town. According to the mayor, this is to prevent irregularities and voter manipulation.
Well, it will also prevent man Roma from voting…
With Roma and Sinti political participation still marginal in many places and elections taking place this year in almost half of OSCE countries, it is more important than ever that Roma and Sinti have the opportunity to participate in elections and help shape their societies for the better, stated the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) on the occasion of International Roma Day.
In one of the largest Roma housing estates in Slovakia, Lunik IX, Roma did not go and vote for the Slovak Presidential elections. People say they would have gone if there were Roma candidates.
Well, they missed an opportunity to express their views. That is a pity.
Non-parliamentary parties Democrats, Democratic Party, Forum, Modrí – ES, ODS – Citizens’ Democrats of Slovakia, Roma Coalition Party have agreed on a common procedure in the second round of the presidential elections. On Tuesday, at a joint press conference, they officially expressed their support for the civil candidate for president, Ivan Korčok.
On Saturday, March 23, 2024, the first round of presidential elections took place in Slovakia. Voters chose from nine candidates. Voter turnout was at almost 52 percent. The winner of the first round was Ivan Korčok (independent candidate), with over 42 percent of the votes, Peter Pellegrini (Voice) with 37 percent was second. The nationalist Štefan Harabin came third (11.7 percent), and almost 3 percent went to the chairman of the Hungarian Alliance, Krisztián Forró. He won first place in two districts in the south, in Dunajská Streda and Komárno. These are districts with a significant Hungarian minority, but part of the population is also made up of Hungarian-speaking Roma.
Igor Matovič, leader of the Slovakia movement (formerly OĽaNO), won only 2.18 percent of the vote. Part of his movement is also the Roma platform Pačivale Roma, which is represented by father and son Pollák. Matovič received higher support in the districts of Bardejov, Sabinov, Levoča and Kežmarok, i.e. districts with a higher proportion of Roma, where the Pollák come from. It can therefore be assumed that he was elected by the Roma in the settlements.
The second round of the presidential election will take place on April 6, with more than 4.36 million eligible voters eligible to participate.
Spiš, a once rich German region between Poprad and Prešov, is increasingly the fiefdom of the Roma. They push the Slovaks out of the town halls and rule themselves here. Former prime minister Igor Matovič’s Slovakia party has the most Roma MPs in the parliament. Roma want to continue this trend in the presidential elections.
EN 
DE 
FR