site.bta Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee to Consider Draft Resolution on November 6, 2016 National Referendum

Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee to Consider Draft Resolution on November 6, 2016 National Referendum

Sofia, January 9 (BTA) - At an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the National Assembly Legal Affairs Committee will consider a draft resolution in connection with the November 6, 2016 national referendum, Committee Chairman Danail Kirilov told a news conference on Monday.

"This is the first and principal step under the Citizens' Direct Participation in Central Government and Local Self-Government Act which is related to the implementation of voters' will," Kirilov explained, noting that GERB are proposing the move in the conviction and hope that they will be backed by other parliamentary forces as well.

The GERB MP pointed out that over the last month and a half his parliamentary group has drafted a bill on the application of a full-fledged majoritarian system in parliamentary elections and are planning to lay this draft legislation before the legislature on Thursday.

GERB are calling on President-elect Rumen Radev to postpone the dissolution of Parliament by three or four weeks so that it could handle the amendments to the Election Code. "If consensus is reached and we get support, we could cope within the life of the incumbent National Assembly, if we work very hard, we could bring these revisions to a second-reading debate by January 26-27," Kirilov commented.

Regarding the Socialists' criticism that by asking for an extension of the life of the present Parliament GERB wants to cover up somebody's tracks, GERB MP Alexander Nenkov commented that if they intended to do so, they would have accepted the cabinet-forming mandate from President Rosen Plevneliev and would have carried it out. "If the Socialists are really sincere in their concerns, they should have accepted the mandate and should have brought to light all things that upset them rather than shun responsibility," the MP argued.

Nenkov also confirmed that GERB want this Parliament to stay on for several more weeks until the passage of the Election Code amendments, so that they could reckon with the will voters expressed at the referendum.

Of the 3,488,558 voters who cast valid ballots at the November 6 referendum, 2,509,864 answered "yes" and 560,024 answered "no" to the question "Do you favour electing National Representatives by an absolute majority in a two-round majoritarian system?"