site.bta MPs Ask President to Wait for Fresh Revisions Before He Challenges Constitutionality of Election Code Changes

MPs Ask President to Wait for Fresh Revisions Before He Challenges Constitutionality of Election Code Changes

Sofia, May 19 (BTA) - MPs asked the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev Thursday to give them some time before he challenges the constitutionality of controversial revisions to the Election Code so that they can prepare new changes. Their call came a day after Parliament overrode a presidential veto on recent amendments to the election legislation that limit the possibilities for opening overseas voting sections for Bulgarian elections.

President Plevneliev found that these revisions encroach on the constitutional rights of expatriate Bulgarians and threatened to refer them to the Constitutional Court.

"I hope that the people at the President's Office will wait some time so that we can submit new provisions in the Election Code and only then, if they have any objections, refer them to the Constitutional Court," said Danail Kirilov MP (GERB) and head of the parliamentary legal committee. He said that going ahead and petitioning the court earlier would be "a hollow move".

The deputies see no conflict between President Plevneliev and GERB and insisted that they work in the same direction: for making it easier for expatriate Bulgarians to vote in Bulgarian elections. They said that GERB even intends to go further and have a very active election campaign abroad.

Kirilov noted that more than half of the European democracies do not allow voting abroad in national elections or if they allow them, the restrictions are much tighter than Bulgaria's.

MP Grozdan Karadjov of the Reformist Bloc's Public Board said the President will do the right thing when he takes the matter to the Constitutional Court.

He called "a ruthless majority" the parliamentary coalition including Ataka, GERB, the Bulgarian Democratic Centre, the Patriotic Front and parts of the Reformist Bloc, which defeated the Presidential veto. "Too bad for this country if this is the ruling majority," he commented.

He argued that Bulgarian people don't need such a Parliament and it must seek ways for disbandment.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) believes that the ruling coalition is working against President Plevneliev.

In a comment for the press in the corridors of Parliament, Socialist Filip Popov said that if the President had vetoed other texts of the Election Code such as the mandatory voting, the Socialists would have believed that he stood up for the public interests.

BSP themselves have not given up the idea of referring the Election Code to the Constitutional Court but their plan is to wait and see what provisions exactly the President will challenge.

Luchezar Nikiforov of ABV said that the President has all reasons to contest the constitutionality of the Election Code revisions. He said that frequent legislative changes - some of which are too vulnerable in court - cause problems in the legal world. He said one example were the controversial revisions in the Election Code which, according to ABV, were adopted too fast.

Patriotic Front co-leader Krassimir Karakachanov dismissed the President's plan to challenge the constitutionality of the Election Code revisions as part of Plevneliev's campaign for re-election.

Commenting the matter for the press in Prague, Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova said that the behavior of the MPs is an insult for Bulgarians abroad.

Politicians from several parties went to talks with expatriate Bulgarians at meetings brokered by the Ombudsman, agreed with their arguments and promised to do what is necessary in the plenary hall in Parliament - and then broke their promise, she said. "They chose their narrow partisan interests over the rights of Bulgarians abroad," Manolova added.

She said she will follow the matter closely and will consider taking the matter to the Constitutional Court.

In a related development, a protest rally is being organized through Facebook for Thursday over the defeat of the presidential veto by the legislature. It will be held outside the Parliament building at 18:30 under the motto "Let's feed the pigs! Expired food for Parliament!".

The organizers say that thanks to contributions from Bulgarians abroad they have purchased expired foodstuffs which they want to "give away" to the MPs "whose shelf life expired the moment they trampled on the Constitutution". Some 400 people said they would go.