SOFIA -- Bulgaria is investigating claims that opposition politicians were wiretapped under the government of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov ahead of last month’s general elections.
Borisov's center-right GERB party, which has ruled the country for almost a decade, came in first in the April 4 elections with 26 percent of the vote.
New elections are scheduled for July 11 after three failed attempts by the country’s main parties to form a government.
Atanas Atanasov, an opposition politician and the former chief of the counterintelligence services, claimed on May 20 that 32 opposition politicians were wiretapped ahead of the elections.
He said the politicians included his own liberal, Western-leaning grouping Democratic Bulgaria and others who participated in nationwide anti-corruption protests last year.
The current caretaker prime minister, Stefan Yanev, a critic of Borisov, was among them, Atanasov said.
Sofia prosecutors said in a statement on May 21 that they were looking to establish if there had been "any irregularities in the use of special surveillance devices."
Caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said he was alerted that "the state agency for national security is currently destroying documents" allegedly related to the wiretapping.
