site.btaGERB Floor Leader: National Referendum on Compulsory Voting Should be Held Simultaneously with 2015 Local Elections

GERB Floor Leader: National Referendum
on Compulsory Voting Should be Held
Simultaneously with 2015 Local Elections


Sofia, January 19 (BTA) - The GERB party's idea is that a
national referendum on the introduction of compulsory voting
should be held simultaneously with the 2015 local elections,
GERB Floor Leader Tsvetan Tsvetanov told journalists in
Chepelare (Southern Bulgaria) on Monday, quoted by his party's
press centre. He visited Smolyan Region at the invitation of
Smolyan Mayor Nikolai Melemov of GERB.

Tsvetanov said that the national referendum will give a clear
idea about people's expectations and expressed the hope that the
majority of Bulgarians will support compulsory voting. If it is
introduced, however, the repressive functions against those who
have not cast their vote should be limited, the MP added.

The option of introducing electronic voting should not be ruled
out, because it will make voting easier for Bulgarians living
abroad, Tsvetanov told journalists. "There are many Bulgarian
citizens who have left their home country. They want to exercise
their constitutional right, but you know how many
inconveniences are created for them when elections are held
outside the country: polling districts, trips, expenses, time,"
he also said.

Stanislav Ivanov MP of GERB said on bTV Monday morning that
through compulsory voting citizens will have broader
representation in Parliament. In his words, there should be
preferences for those who have cast their vote, such as
preferential entry of their children in kindergarten, as opposed
to the people who have not voted.

Chavdar Georgiev MP of the Bulgarian Socialist Party - Left
Bulgaria told bTV that compulsory voting is not a heal-all and
it is a mistake to think that legislative measures alone can
lead to high voter turnout. In his words, compulsory voting
cannot change the economy. Low voter turnout is the result of
Bulgarians' low standard of living, which causes their trust in
institutions to drop, he said.

***

The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) Monday closed the case
regarding a referendum on Bulgaria's electoral legislation due
to it being within the competence of the Administrative Court in
Sofia, a SAC decision reads.

The case was opened after an initiative committee headed by
former caretaker minister Georgi Bliznashki lodged a complaint
over the refusal of the chairman of the 42nd National Assembly
to consider the initiative committee's petition for a national
referendum. Back then, the committee was given one month to
correct the irregularities in the petition, which was prepared
in early 2014.

LI/DS


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