site.btaABV Calls for Lowering Legitimacy Threashold for Referendums

ABV Calls for Lowering Legitimacy  Threashold for  Referendums

Sofia, March 24 (BTA) - The ABV party calls for revising the
legislation to lower the threashold for legitimacy of
referendums because the present threashold is too high. At a
news conference here Tuesday, former ABV leader Georgi Purvnov
said that his party is ready to put forward legislative changes.

There is an ongoing campaign spearheaded by President Rossen
Plevneliev for a referendum on changes in the votingn rules. In
this referendum, Bulgarians will be asked whether or not they
approve the introduction of compulsory voting, electronic voting
and a majoratarian element in the elections.

At present, there are two conditions which must be fulfilled
simultaneously for the referendum proposal to be accepted:
participation of at least as many voters as those who voted in
the latest parliamentary elections; and "yes" votes must
represent more than half of the valid votes cast. If these
conditions are not met, the referendum proposal is considered
rejected and a national referendum on the same matter may not be
initiated within two years.

The former ABV leader commented that in respect of the
compulsory voting, they trust those experts who say that
constitutional changes are needed because by the effective
Constitution voting is a right and not an obligation.

ABV believes that it is imperative to have a majoritarian
component where people will be voting for individual candidates
rather than for party tickets, regardless of what the
majoritarian-proportional ratio will be. They suggest that it be
made half and half.

As for electronic voting, ABV are all for it but are skeptical
that Bulgaria is ready for it at this stage.

The former ABV leader underscored the importance of removing
"ghost voters" from the voter registers. He was referring to
nearly 1 million of Bulgarians who have settled abroad and don't
vote in Bulgaria but still figure on the rolls.

On a separate matter, ABV have a proposal for revisions in the
Judiciary Act connected with the introduction of electronic
justice. ABV will move for establishing a board with the
Parliament leader to discuss, analyze and propose solutions for
key issues of the judicial reform.

ABV's ranking member Roumen Petkov said that Georgi Purvanov
remains the only candidate for the leader's position in the
party.

The party will vote for a new leader on April 25 after Purvanov
stepped down in protest over the decision of the ABV
representatives in Parliament to vote in support of a new
external debt of 16 billion leva to be taken out over the next
three years.