site.btaPresident Plevneliev Challenges Constitutionality of Three Referendum Questions

President Plevneliev Challenges Constitutionality of Three Referendum Questions

Sofia, May 27 (BTA) - President Rosen Plevneliev has asked the Constitutional Court to pronounce itself regarding the constitutionality of three questions included in the referendum which Parliament approved on May 12, 2016, Plevneliev's Press Secretariat said in a press release on Friday.

The questions pertain to the introduction of remote e-voting in elections and referendums, halving the number of MPs to 120, and electing the heads of regional police stations and Interior Ministry regional departments in majority-rule elections in two rounds, with absolute majority.
 
Parliament approved on May 12  a national referendum on election-related questions moved by the team of TV talk show host Slavi Trifonov. The six proposed referendum questions are about holding of parliamentary elections based on the majority principle in two rounds; halving the number of MPs in Parliament; compulsory voting; introducing remote e-voting in elections and referendums; reducing the state subsidy for political parties and coalitions to 1 lev per vote received in the latest general elections; and introducing majority-rule elections in two rounds for the election with absolute majority of the directors of the Interior Ministry's regional departments and the heads of regional police stations.

The press release notes that according to the Constitution, the entire power of the State derives from the people and the people shall exercise this power directly and through the bodies established by the Constitution. The two forms of direct and representative democracy, described above, are complementary.

The head of State has always supported the active civil society and the idea that holding referendums on important matters will increase citizens' trust in the political system and institutions, the press release says. According to the President, this most powerful instrument of direct democracy can make the political environment in this country more sustainable and stable. This, however, can not be achieved if the direct and representative democracy are not executed in observance of the constitutional principles, such as the rule of law.

The press release recalls that, in its quest to create a stable State with sustainable and working institutions, the Seventh Grand National Assembly decides that a new Constitution, as well as making important changes to the one currently in force, can be adopted by a grand national assembly. According to Plevneliev, this text in the Constitution should not be bypassed by allowing each national assembly to adopt, by a regular majority, decisions to conduct referendums on matters pertaining to the form of State organization and governance.

According to Plevneliev, the exceptionally rare use of direct democracy throughout the years of Bulgaria's transition to democracy is a huge deficit in this country's democratic development.

The President believes that this instrument must develop based on clear rules, such as the types of questions the people can be asked in referendums.