site.btaParliament Introduces Compulsory Voting

Parliament Introduces Compulsory Voting

Sofia, April 21 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday passed conclusively revisions of the Election Code making voting compulsory. The vote was 110 in favour (73 MPs of GERB, 18 of Patriotic Front, 10 of ABV, 7 of the Bulgarian Democratic Centre (BDC), 2 of Ataka and 2 of the Reformist Bloc), 73 against (27 of Movements for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), 25 of BSP-Left Bulgaria, 13 of the Reformist Bloc, 3 of the BDC and 5 independents) and 10 abstentions (5 of the Reformist Bloc, 2 of the BDC, 2 of Ataka and 1 independent).
  
The debate on the first paragraph of the amendments took nearly two and a half hours. The amended version introduces compulsory voting and makes punishable a violation of this obligation without reasonable excuse.

Addressing the legislature, Yanaki Stoilov MP of BSP-Left Bulgaria, Chetin Kazak MP of the MRF and Naiden Zelenogorski MP of the Reformist Bloc opposed the revisions, and particularly turning a constitutional right into an obligation.    

For his part, Valeri Simeonov MP of the Patriotic Front argued that democracy in Bulgaria is in e severe crisis and the people are not represented normally, fairly and democratically at any elective institutional level. In his opinion, compulsory voting is not a cure-all but a first step in dealing with vote-buying.

The introduction of the new "none of the above" box on the ballot paper which will not count as a valid vote and the counting the votes submitted for the allocation of seats spells a serious risk of an artificial excessive increase of the electoral threshold for Parliament, ABV Chairman Georgi Purvanov told a news conference at the National Assembly. ABV, the Popular Union Coalition and the Gergyovden Movement outlined their opinions about the Election Code amendments and the introduction of sanctions for voters.