site.bta President Threatens to Alert Constitutional Court about Contradictory Election Rules

President Threatens to Alert Constitutional Court about Contradictory Election Rules

Sofia, October 16 (BTA) - President Rosen Plevneliev said in a bTV interview on Sunday that unless the National Assembly makes a responsible decision about the "none of the above" option on the ballot papers for the upcoming presidential elections, he will petition the Constitutional Court. Plevneliev urged the lawmakers to change the method of calculating the voting results.

The problem arose after the Election Code was amended earlier this year to make voting in political elections compulsory. This was coupled with the introduction of a "none of the above" option on ballot papers, which voters can choose if they do not support any of the proposed candidates. The issue is that, on the one hand, the "none of the above" choice is considered a valid vote in determining voter turnout, but on the other hand, it is excluded from the results for presidential candidates, which practically renders the "none of the above" ballots invalid.

Plevneliev said: "There is a problem, and it is obvious. A vote is considered legitimate and valid when the voter marks 'none of the above,' but that same vote becomes illegitimate when the support for individual candidates is measured. The problem must be solved in the National Assembly as soon as possible. If the MPs fail to make a responsible decision to address the issue, I, as head of state, am ready to act within my powers and alert the Constitutional Court."

The President expressed his concern that there is always some sort of a mess in the lead-up to national elections and relevant legislation is amended at the eleventh hour. He called on the lawmakers to make sure that this does not happen ever again.

He welcomed Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's initiative to have the National Assembly meet on Tuesday in order to discuss the matter.

But Plevneliev disapproved of Borissov's intention to make his government resign unless the candidate of his GERB party wins the largest share of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections. Plevneliev said this would only serve to create instability. "I wish the presidential elections were seen as an occasion to choose our head of state, not a chance to rearrange party ranks," he said.

He also disagreed with the label of "hawk" which Borissov has given him in arguing that he has worsened Bulgaria's relations with Russia. "The fact that I am the first democratically elected head of state to oppose the Russian president firmly and consistently does not make me a hawk by any means. It makes me a person and a politician with a stance."

Back on October 3, Borissov said about Plevneliev:"His mistake was that, posing as a hawk, he largely worsened our relations with Russia. I have told him so both privately and publicly. But now, thanks to the goodwill of [Russian] President Putin, [Russian Prime Minister] Medvedev and myself, we have managed to sort things out, so the new President can take over in a calm situation vis-а-vis all important players: the United States, Europe, Russia, China, Turkey."