Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Bulgaria doubles jail terms for vote buying
02 Apr 2009 13:21:51 GMT
 Source: Reuters
SOFIA, April 2 (Reuters) - Bulgaria, under pressure from the European Union to stamp out rampant corruption and preparing for a parliamentary election in July, on Thursday doubled the punishment for organising and carrying out vote buying.

Political parties in the EU newcomer have been accusing each other of offering money, food and other basic commodities to mainly poor communities and minorities such as the Roma people in exchange for votes.

Parliament approved fresh amendments to the penal code to double the maximum jail term to six years for those who organise vote-buying schemes and five years for vote buyers themselves.

Political analysts said the changes were an attempt by the ruling Socialists to boost their sagging popularity before the election in early July.

Recent polls show that more than 80 percent of Bulgarians disapprove of the Socialist-led cabinet, saying they are fed up with life in the poorest and most corrupt EU member state.

Brussels has punished Sofia for its failure to crack down on widespread corruption, organised crime and fraud by freezing hundreds of millions of euros in EU funds.

Media reports about widespread vote buying before local elections in 2007 led parliament to introduce jail terms for the crime.

Even so, criminal groups spent up to 200 million levs on vote buying in the 2007 municipal polls, to help elect officials they could influence, and to make it easier to legalise businesses and extend control over lucrative markets, Bulgaria's anti-graft Centre for the Study of Democracy said in a report.

Last month the chief prosecutor appealed to the major political parties to stop the vote buying and expressed concern that it might discredit the July election.

U.S. ambassador to Sofia Nancy McEldowney welcomed the amendments and urged the political parties to do more to improve the transparency of party financing. "This action makes clear that vote buying is a serious crime," she said in a statement. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Ilieva, editing by Tim Pearce)


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Latest news

•  Bulgaria doubles jail terms for vote buying

•  Blast reduces Russian gas supplies to Balkans

•  Russia gas via Moldova only partly restored-Naftogaz

•  Russian gas transit to Balkans via Moldova halted-Tass

•  Homophobia damaging lives across Europe-EU study

MORE >>

AlertNet news is provided by

Background information

Facts & figures
Bulgaria

Related articles

Breaking stories
 Bulgaria doubles jail terms for vote buying (1 minute ago)

Blast reduces Russian gas supplies to Balkans (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 MEDIAWATCH: Food summit thwarts hope (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Czech Art Shocks Brussels (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Global projected land use changes, 1700-2050 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-04-02T083438Z_01_SOF01_RTRIDSP_2_BULGARIA-PROTESTS-STEEL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SOF01.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-04-02T083203Z_01_SOF02_RTRIDSP_2_BULGARIA-PROTESTS-STEEL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SOF02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-03-09T091751Z_01_POP02_RTRIDSP_2_BULGARIA-KREMIKOVTZI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/POP02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-03-09T091409Z_01_POP03_RTRIDSP_2_BULGARIA-KREMIKOVTZI_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/POP03.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2009-03-03T130405Z_01_SOF04_RTRIDSP_2_BULGARIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/SOF04.htm

Workers from Bulgaria's largest steelmaker Kremikovtzi take part in a protest in central Sofia April 2, 2009. Workers protested over unpaid salaries, piling pressure on the government ahead of the parliamentary ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Thu Apr 2 13:24:04 2009