The software and computer network of Elections Association, the company that the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) selected to count the presidential ballots, failed on elections night and many regional electoral commissions (REC) had to count by hand.

In most RECs, no modem connection to the CEC was available or the system would not accept the passwords provided by the Elections Association. Some heads of regional commissions said that the computers and printers installed at their offices were not enough.

Krassimir Stoyanov, CEO of the Elections Association, said that the computer system problem was due to the overburdened lines of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company. He said the imperfect database provided by the Civic Registration and Administrative Service (CRAS) caused faults with the software.

Demetra, the company that has counted the ballots in all elections during the past 11 years, agreed to finish the job and count the ballots in the second round run-off. Demetra came out third in the CEC competition for ballot counting companies because Elections Association and Information Services offered lower prices.

Meanwhile, claims were filed with the CEC concerning violations of the law on elections. Media are obliged to treat candidates equally and to avoid campaigning or announcing results from the start of the day before elections until the end of voting at 7pm on election day. Fines for violations range from 500 to 30,000 leva.

Georgi Lozanov, a member of the National Council on Radio and Television (NCRT), said that Bulgarian National Television (BNT) had aired pieces on Petar Stoyanov, Georgi Purvanov and Bogomil Bonev in its Friday evening newscast, and not in the election chronicles, which is when election news must be reported.

Lozanov also accused Darik Radio of not setting a good example in terms of professional ethics, although the station was not formally violating the law. The NCRT member was referring to a musical chart, in which listeners voted for six songs, each representing a presidential candidate. The standings in the chart were aired as early as 2pm on Sunday.