site.btaConsensus Exists for Need of Legal Amendments Concerning Right to Vote of Quarantined, Self-isolating Voters - President Radev

January 10 (BTA) - A clear consensus already exists regarding the need of legal amendments, first and foremost, in respect of guaranteeing the right to vote of all people placed under quarantine or of self-isolating voters, and of distance voting by mail of all Bulgarians living abroad and going to the polls amid a pandemic in a country where lockdown restrictions are in place, President Rumen Radev said Sunday during his second day of meetings with extra-parliamentary political formations within the framework of consultations initiated by him to ensure the conduct of safe, fair and transparent elections. Vice President Ilyana Iotova too attended the talks.


Tsvetan Tsvetanov, leader of the Republicans for Bulgaria political party and formed Number Two at GERB, the major partner in the ruling coalition, urged for changing the currently tentative election date of March 28. Tsvetanov said his party is ready for elections on this first constitutionally possible date but noted that legislative readiness to conduct the poll is absent.

The legal amendments proposed by the Republicans for Bulgaria include rotating regional directors of the interior, providing a legal opportunity whereby the Central Election Commission and district election commissions include members from extra-parliamentary formations, online streaming of the counting of votes and filling in tally sheets, mail voting by Bulgarians abroad, and guaranteeing the participation of all runners in the elections in the national public media: the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Television.

Tsvetanov said his party is against extending the duration of polling day. Speaking to reporters after the talks with Radev, he said that an acceptable date for the elections would be in mid-April.

Radev said that electronic voting is impossible to ensure for the next elections but that mail voting is totally feasible, as well as real time video surveillance of vote counting and filling in of tally sheets.

The ABV party of Roumen Petkov argued that acceptable dates for the elections are May 15 and 16. Petkov suggested that the polls open at 7 am on May 15, close at 7 pm, then re-open at 7 am on the next morning and finally close at noon, which will make it possible for the distric election commissions to finish up their work before nightfall and thus avoid over-tiredness.

Petkov said that voter turnout should be promoted in Bulgaria first and foremost, because if the six million voters here are not convinced to go to the polls, it will be difficult to reach Bulgarians abroad.

The Chairman of the MIR political party, Simeon Slavchev, suggested video surveillance of the entire voting process, not just of the vote counting. Slavchev insisted that the health protocol be drawn up publicly, with the participation of the entities running in the elections. Furthermore, equal treatment is to be ensured of all parties by the media, and guaranteed access to the public media.

Slavchev further raised the question of what he described as "unconstitutional" election of Information Services as the body responsible for the data from the vote counting. MIR insisted that this task is awarded under the Public Procurement Act. The party also suggested setting up a national fair elections task force uniting all political parties who are in favour of fair elections and all institutions in charge of the voting process.

Radev said that more options should be provided for fostering a competitive environment for all parties in the election campaign, in particular regarding media coverage. In respect of video surveillance, the President said that it should be implemented, on the part of the election administration by means of direct streaming online in the Central Election Commission, as well as on the part of the members of the district commissions, observers and candidates representatives, who in his words, could take shots with their phones. RI/ZH
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