site.btaThink Tank Reports 9% More Preference Votes in Second Elections since Introduction

115 POLITICS - THINK TANK- ELECTIONS - SURVEY

Think Tank Reports 9%
More Preference Votes
in Second Elections since Introduction


Sofia, October 21 (BTA) - In the October 5 parliamentary
elections, there were 9 per cent more preference votes compared
with the European elections on May 24, Antoaneta Tsoneva of the
Institute for Public Environment Development told a BTA-hosted
news conference on Tuesday.

On October 5, 35.16 per cent of valid ballots had a marked
preference against 26 per cent on May 25.

Some 51.69 per cent of those who voted for the Reformist Bloc
used a preference, followed by Bulgaria without Censorship with
43.6 per cent, BSP-Left Bulgaria 42.4 per cent, GERB 35.65 per
cent, ABV 34.23 per cent, Patriotic Front 27.57 per cent, Ataka
26.22 per cent and Movement for Rights and Freedoms 21.29 per
cent.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party saw the largest increase in
preferences, by 14 per cent. For GERB the increase was 12.43 per
cent, for Bulgaria without Censorship 10.39 per cent, for the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms 9.32 per cent, for Ataka 2.37
per cent. The Reformist Bloc saw a drop in preference votes from
57.53 per cent on May 25.

The portion of ballots where the same preference and ballot
numbers were marked, or the so called double preference, was
12.3 per cent. On May 25, the respective share was 11 per cent.

The portion of double preferences was largest for Ataka at 17.39
per cent, followed by GERB with 17.24 per cent, Bulgaria
without Censorship 15.26 per cent, Reformist Bloc 10.46 per
cent, ABV 9.15 per cent, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 7.21
per cent, BSP-Left Bulgaria 5.67 per cent and Patriotic Front
with 1.82 per cent.

Seven MPs who were elected because of the same ballot/preference
number gave up their seats. Four were of GERB and one of the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Bulgaria without Censorship
and Ataka each.

A total of 20 MPs entered the 43rd National Assembly on
preferential votes: ten of GERB, five of the Bulgarian Socialist
Party, two of the Reformist Bloc, two of the Movement for
Rights and Freedoms and one of Bulgaria without Censorship. They
account for 8.33 per cent of all 240 MPs. Of the eight parties
represented in Parliament, 445 candidate MPs received over 7 per
cent of preferential vote. These were reduced to 20 after the
final assignment of seats.

The Institute for Public Environment Development has made
several recommendations among which a mandatory preference and a
one candidate-one list inclusion. To avoid confusion, the
numerical listing of parties may be eliminated, with names only
on the ballot in an order determined by a draw and circles for
the preference vote. According to Tsoneva, it is an
overstatement that the large number of invalid ballots was due
to the preferential voting. She said that some 25 per cent of
invalid ballots were annulled because of the marking and the pen
colour, and a portion were not marked at all or were double
marked.

Among the recommendations are also a regional tally counting
centre, a professional Central Election Commission and a single
constituency for voters abroad. VI/PP