Bulgarians protest reinstatement of paper election ballots

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Hundreds of people have attended a street protest in Bulgaria’s capital to oppose a revision of the Election Code that reinstates paper ballots. The previous reformist government had replaced those ballots with voting machines. The We Continue the Change party and the Democratic Bulgaria political alliance called Thursday’s protest in Sofia, describing the switch as an attempt by the parties of the “old establishment” to allow the corruption of the election process. Police cordoned off the Parliament building to prevent the angry demonstrators from storming it, but the protest remained peaceful. The Election Code amendments were approved last week during an all-night sitting of the National Assembly’s legal affairs committee,