Bulgaria's Interior Ministry Suspects 1,000 People of Vote Buying

About one thousand people have been defined by Bulgaria's Ministry of Interior as potentially involved in vote buying at the upcoming early parliamentary elections.

Their names were announced in the police departments and they are being investigated, assured the Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Svetlozar Lazarov.

Caretaker Interior Minister Yordan Bakalov added that the Interior Ministry has information about people who have been making attempts to get a preference vote by vote buying:

"People who are on lower positions [in the electoral list], try to work for their own benefit, that is to buy votes and thus to get preference votes and to move to higher positions in their party's lists," Bakalov told Bulgaria's National Radio.

He added that there is a certain concern whether there will be enough evidence to charge suspects with votes buying.