Bulgarian opposition demands cancellation of presidential election results

Bulgaria's opposition lawmakers will submit a request for cancellation of the results of the country's presidential election ending on Oct. 30, an opposition party official said on Tuesday. Altogether 71 lawmakers from Coalition for Bulgaria, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and Ataka party signed under the request, said Mihail Mikov, deputy chairperson of the parliamentary group of leftist Coalition for Bulgaria. The request would be submitted to the country's Constitutional Court "immediately," he said. Reasons for declaring the election to be illegal were "numerous" and were described in 17 to 18 pages, Mikov said. Violating the confidentiality of the votes and depriving thousands of Bulgarian citizens of the right to vote were among the arguments of the opposition, Mikov added. The Constitutional Court has to make its decision in two weeks, he said. Rosen Plevenliev, candidate of the ruling GERB party, won the presidential runoff in Bulgaria, attracting 52.58 percent of the votes, while his opponent from the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Ivaylo Kalfin got 47.42 percent.