/ world today news/ Prime Minister Boyko Borisov will personally come to the National Assembly, where today he will meet with the leaders of the parliamentary groups that support the government, in order to discuss changes to the Electoral Code.
The leaders of the parliamentary groups of GERB, RB, PF and ABV are invited to participate in the meeting. Borisov himself explained that the meeting with the parliamentary groups will be public, because he “started to get tired of GERB taking all the burden for every single decision”.
Immediately after the meeting, the extraordinary session of the parliament started, the purpose of which is to proceed with the adoption of the changes to the electoral law in the second reading.
At the same time, several thousand have already announced their participation in a protest in front of the National Assembly building against the restrictions in the Electoral Code. “We are protesting against the adopted changes to the Electoral Code, for which the only word is arrogance”, says the protest message spread on social networks. People do not agree with the mandatory voting, the heavy barriers to the voting of our compatriots abroad, the prohibition of holding elections and referendums together. The protest already has its own hashtags – #IwantToVote and #stigatrICs. “We remind the deputies that the sovereign has sent them where they are now, and any attempt to technically curtail his powers will not remain without consequences,” the organizers said.
Prime Minister Borisov has already said that GERB are inclined to revise the Electoral Code on these changes, which provoke discontent among the people. “If this was a GERB government, these changes would not have been accepted at all,” Borisov said earlier and emphasized that he was always against mandatory voting. “It is spreading with terrible force that we are forcing people to vote. This is not true,” he pointed out categorically and stated that he does not want GERB to explain itself for things that are accepted by everyone. “Until now, I complied in the name of the coalition of supporting parties, and when GERB proposes something, it must go and seek support from parties outside the government,” the prime minister said on the subject.
One of the key changes adopted so far in the Electoral Code states that voting is mandatory, done personally by the voter and represents the fulfillment of his civic duty. On the subject of the mandatory vote, the DPS explained that they will appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Another important change in the Electoral Law regulates not allowing the production of an election and voting on a national referendum on the same day.
The deputies decided not to allow the formation of electoral sections outside the territory of the diplomatic and consular representations of Bulgaria. The proposal of the Patriotic Front (PF) caused heated debates in the plenary hall, especially between the representatives of the DPS and the PF. After the change, Bulgarians in England and other countries protested, saying that the parliament was restricting their rights under the Constitution.
On Friday (April 22), the chairman of the PG of GERB Tsvetan Tsvetanov explained that everything possible will be done to introduce experimental electronic voting as early as this year’s presidential elections. On the subject of sanctions for non-voting, Tsvetanov explained that the principle, which is about to be voted on in the hall, was adopted, stating that after two consecutive times of non-voting, those who did not take advantage of their constitutional right should be deleted. Those who do not wish to vote for anyone will have the option to cross off a box that they do not wish to vote for any of the registered parties. If someone decides they want to vote again they will be able to register again.
With the changes, the possibility of not doing sociological research in the pre-election period will also disappear.
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