Repair for 1.1 million euros: "Siella Norma" offers voting machine renewal to the CEC

The company "Siella Norma," responsible for the maintenance of voting machines, has offered the Central Election Commission (CEC) a package of repairs and component replacements worth 1.1 million euros. This was revealed by the company's Executive Director, Veselin Todorov, in an interview with BNT.

According to Todorov, a large portion of the equipment—about 2,200 to 2,300 machines—is not in optimal condition for use. The main problems are related to printer damage caused by the use of paper rolls that do not meet technical specifications, as well as the depletion of internal batteries and flash memories.

"These machines have a three-year warranty period, which has already expired. Previously, we performed repairs free of charge, but now payment for maintenance is necessary. Our proposal includes replacing all batteries (including internal ones, which are over 6 years old) and replacing the flash memories to ensure the stability of the systems," Todorov explained.

The offer was submitted to the CEC in April and is aimed at ensuring the technical readiness of all nearly 13,000 machines in the country. Todorov emphasized that despite changes to the Election Code, which primarily aim for machine voting in larger sections, the volume of technical maintenance will not change significantly.

As a reminder, parliamentary changes to the Election Code are upcoming before the presidential elections and rely on restoring machine voting in sections with over 300 voters, while paper voting is to be preserved primarily for smaller settlements.