Bulgarian authorities seize 350,000 illegal ballot papers ahead of polls

Bulgarian authorities said they had seized 350,000 illegal ballot papers ahead of yesterday's elections, an allegation which sparked opposition accusations of fraud against the former ruling party of Boyko Borisov.

Socialist party leader Sergey Stanishev said the discovery was "preparation for total falsification of the elections".

"350,000 ballots correspond to 10 per cent of the expected turnout tomorrow and ensure about 25 lawmakers' seats," he said. "This is a scandal unseen in Bulgaria so far."

Stanishev accused the conservative Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) party of ex-premier Borisov and his campaign manager, former interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The papers in Kostinbrod, 15 kilometres northwest of Sofia, exceeded the number that the printing company Multiprint was under contract to print.

"The ballots found on the night of May 10 were outside the ordered amounts," prosecutors said in a statement.

The government confirmed that it had indeed received the whole order of 8,343,000 ballots from Multiprint on May 8.