site.bta More Bills Amending Election Code Moved

More Bills Amending Election Code Moved

Sofia, May 27 (BTA)- The left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ABV Movement both
submitted their own bills amending the Election Code on Friday, thus bringing to three the number of bills to amend and supplement the Election Code. On Thursday 47 MPs of GERB, the Patriotic Front, the Reformist Bloc and the Bulgarian Democratic Centre too moved draft amendments.

The bills come after the legislature overrode a presidential veto of earlier Election Code amendments which left many politicians and members of the public dissatisfied with what they saw as restrictive provisions for expatriate voters.

The BSP moves to drop the mandatory and the distance electronic voting and not to allow the holding of elections and referendums concurrently, save as an exception and when scheduled on a non-working day. The reasoning for behind the proposal is not to burden the election administration and not to confuse people.

The BSP is against distance electronic voting as the secrecy of the ballot is not guaranteed.

Presenting the bill, secretary of the BSP parliamentary group Filip Popov said that the Socialists have no suggestions about voting sections abroad "because it only right for the ruling majority to fix the muddle they created". Popov said also that proposals concerning voting abroad have been moved by the parties in the ruling coalition, as well as other formations.

ABV suggests that voting sections in all countries in the world be set up pursuant to a decision of the Central Election Commission on a proposal of the heads of the diplomatic and consular representations on the basis of no less than 40 voters who have submitted an application to vote. The formation also proposes providing an option whereby voting sections in a foreign country are set up even without the presence of no less than 40 applications in pursuance of a reasoned proposal of the head of the respective diplomatic or consular representation and complying with the relevant procedure and deadlines.

ABV also notes that elections for MEPs and for deputies in the National Assembly have revealed the absence of logic for having different thresholds for the distribution of seats. This is why the formation suggests a four per cent threshold in the elections for MEPs, the same as in parliamentary elections. According to the currently effective provisions, a right to participate in the distribution of seats in the European Parliament is obtained by parties, coalitions and independent runners who have garnered valid votes that are no less than the national election quota.

ABV notes that Bulgaria has the highest such threshold which harms the smaller formations. Other countries use equal thresholds for national and European Parliament and distribute the seats subsequently, ABV says.

The party also moves to drop the provisions whereby voters are deleted from the electoral register as a consequence of failure to exercise their voting right. Yet another suggestions is for the criterion for opening a mayoralty to be 250 voters.