A Gallup International Balkan survey made public Thursday shows poor awareness of contemplated revisions of the Bulgarian Constitution, the polling agency said Thursday. The data is part of Gallup's monthly independent research programme. The study was conducted between August 3 and 11, among 807 adult citizens using face-to-face tablet interviews, with 1% of the sample representing about 54,000 people.
The analysts say that the first more comprehensive poll on proposed amendments to the Constitution expectedly shows that people are less familiar with most of the ideas being discussed, but several conclusions can be drawn: there is general support for amendments to the judicial system, opposition to ideas for reducing presidential prerogatives, and a lack of understanding on changing Bulgaria’s National Day or on ideas such as affirming the possibility of dual citizenship in passive suffrage.
A total of 65% of the respondents disagree with the idea people with dual citizenship to have the right to become ministers and MPs in Bulgaria, while only 17.5% agree. The rest do not know where their opinion lies. Some 44% of Bulgarians oppose reducing the powers of the president in forming caretaker governments, while only 29% agree with the proposal. The rest do not know.
56.2% of the respondents support reducing the powers of the Prosecutor General in Bulgaria, while 17.4 disagree with this. The rest are hesitant.
The idea of dropping out March 3 (Day of Bulgaria's Liberation) as Bulgaria’s National Day for May 24 (Day of Bulgarian Letters) is supported by only 10.7% of the respondents, while one third of Bulgarians disagree with it. Some 48% of the respondents answered that they like both holidays equally, while 2.4% dislike both equally. The rest do not have an opinion on the topic.
Asked directly should March 3 be kept or dropped as National Day, and what is its alternative, if it should be dropped, a total of 69% stand behind March 3, seeing it as Bulgaria’s National Day for the future to come. Some 10% want it replaced by May 24, 3% want it replaced by September 6 (the day of the Union between the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1886), and 1.4% - by September 22 (the day when Bulgaria declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908). The rest do not know.
A total of 61.3% of Bulgarians think it is good for every citizen to have the right to file a constitutional complaint, while 12.2% disagree with it.
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