On October 5 the Bulgarian citizens are to select the members of the 43^rd National Assembly. This is a good occasion to remember that the first parliamentary elections in free Bulgaria took place thanks to the generous bean and corn harvest. The creation of the first constitution was charged to a Constituent Assembly that convened on 10 February 1879 at the old capital of Tarnovo. It was the first National Assembly of this country after the 1877 – 78 Russo – Turkish War and the Liberation from Ottoman rule. Its establishment was grounded in the Berlin treaty between the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. In 1879 the MPs for the Constituent Assembly were selected via beans and corn. The reason: few people were literate back in those days. The idea was taken from Ancient Greece, where beans had been used, dropped into the helmets of the applicants. Then the beans were poured out and counted. The man with the greatest number of beans in his helmet was the winner. It turned out to be the first secret vote in the electoral history of mankind. “The predecessors of the Central Elecoral Committee in Bulgaria further developed the system,” writer Rossen Takhov says. “They added corn with the negative sign for those, left behind.” Of course, not only the most dignified ones went to parliament even back then, just like now. The analyst gives as an example Ivancho Hadjipenchovich from Ruschuk, Ruse today:

“Ivancho Hadjipenchevich was the man, who had signed the death sentence of Apostle of Freedom Vassil Levski,” Rosen Takhov says. “He had participated in the court committee back in 1872 – 73. After the Liberation the citizens of Russe decided to send him to the Constituent Assembly in Tarnovo. The signature of Ivancho Hadjipenchovich can be found on two spots in Bulgarian history: under the death sentence of Levski and underneath the Tarnovo Constitution. In order to avoid such paradoxes, we need our compatriots, who emigrated abroad to come here and change the political system of Bulgaria.”

Certain contrivances from our parliamentary history have been preserved up until today, Takhov says.

“Ancient Greece was the motherland of tub-thumping,” he recalls. “The father of Bulgarian demagogy was named Mikhail Takev – a politician from the Democratic Party in the distant past. He went to a village and delivered a speech, with lots of promises. In the end he promised a comfortable bridge to be built in the village. One of the villagers had the guts to say: “Mr. Takev, we don’t have a river!” The answer was: “Don’t worry, Mr. Villager, we’ll get you one!”

The same thing happens today:

“I would like to tell the story of a Bulgarian MP, who won at the 1908 elections. His name was Anton Frangya – a lawyer and politician from the Progressive-Liberal Party. His rival was Stoyan Mihailovksi – a notable Bulgarian writer and a public person, chair of the Supreme Macedonian – Adrianople Committee. He was a candidate of the Agricultural Party back then. Both went to a campaign meeting in Nova Zagora. Stoyan Mihailovski delivered a two-hour-long speech from a balcony. Being a French graduate, he talked on the principles of democracy. He started up with Ancient Greece, went through Rome and ended with the slogan: Vive la republique! Vive la democratie! The villagers from the places nearby failed to comprehend these words and Frangya simply said: “Did you hear that man? He swore in Wallachian!” The people trusted him and Anton Frangya won the elections with this mean technique…

There are few instruments, used in Bulgarian elections, Rosen Takhov says:

“The so-called sopadjistvo or rod-technique was used at first. Tough men with sticks wandered around during the election campaign for the Third Grand National Assembly, and the word CONSTITUTION was written on those sticks. The event took place in Svishtov and emergency powers were voted to Knyaz Alexander Batemberg, who suspended the Constitution. The stick method is in the past, now no one beats during elections. The other tool that has lived through it all is demagogy, as I mentioned before. It is eternal. The third one is the Roma vote, used for decades. Nikola Suknarov, an MP from the Liberal Party used it for the first time. Magnificent storyteller Aleko Konstantinov’s story Extinguish the Candles is the next thing that comes to one’s mind. It was inspired by establisher of the People’s Party Konstantin Stoilov, two times a prime minister. Due to the danger from a poll victory in favor of his rival Dragan Tsankov, Stoilov sent a telegram to Byala Slatina: “If nothing else helps, extinguish the candles and fix the voting urns!” This is the so-called moral influence. Konstantin Stoilov also said :“The government in power has the right to exert moral influence on its voters”.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev