Bulgaria Parliament Rejects Presidential Election Act Veto

The Bulgarian Parliament passed again Wednesday the 8% threshold for coalitions to enter the Parliament despite the President’s veto. Photo by Sofia New Agency

The Bulgarian Parliament voted Wednesday to reject the veto of Bulgaria's President, Georgi Parvanov, opposing the clause raising the coalitions' threshold from 4% to 8%.

With the Parliament's vote, the text raising the threshold was once again affirmed and approved as an amendment of the new Election Act.

The ruling National Movement for Stability and Progress Party (NMSP) of former Prime Minister and Tsar, Simeon Saxe-Coburg and most of the opposition - United Democratic Forces (UDF), Democrats for, Strong Bulgaria (DSB), "Bulgarian New Democracy" (BND) and the Movement "Forward" did not participate in the vote because they are against the clause.

The 8% threshold was favored by the Members of the Parliament (MPs) from the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party, (BSP), thus countering the veto of their own party member, Parvanov, from the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party, from the opposition "Order, Law and Justice" and the nationalist "Ataka" parties (4 MPs from "Ataka" voted) and three independent MPs.

A total of 130 MPs took part in the vote, 127 voted for and 3 against. 121 MPs' votes were needed to approve again the disputed text.

Those against included two independent MPs and the only BSP MP voting against the threshold - Georgi Bliznashki

 

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