14 Nov 2011

TI Bulgaria Publishes Study on Vote-Buying

Transparency International’s National Chapter in Bulgaria presented yesterday a study based on a national survey about vote-buying. The survey results showed that 12% of Bulgarians would be willing to sell their votes, if given the opportunity.

In the survey 1% of the respondents were undecided, but according to TI-Bulgaria Program Director Katya Hristova, these individuals can also be considered as potential vote sellers. Among the remainder of respondents, 6.8% stated that they would not sell their votes only because the average payment is less than what they would be willing to receive.

Among the respondents who would consider selling their vote, 58.1% mentioned that they would be motivated to do so if they were in a condition of poverty. The rest of respondents said that they would be driven to selling their votes by a feeling of impunity and dissatisfaction with local authorities.

Ms. Hristova also expressed concerns about the meaning of these figures and the potential impact of vote-buying on election results in a scenario with low voter turnout.

Read the full article Transparency International-Bulgaria Reports Alarming Rate of Potential Vote-Sellers on novinite.com. The pictured featured above is from sofiaecho.com.