Bulgarian President Vetoes Election Code Amendments

Georgi Parvanov has returned the amended election code to the Parliament. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's president Georgi Parvanov has imposed a veto on the new amendments to the election code.

The amendments will be discussed again in the Bulgarian Parliament.

The major disadvantage of the amended election code is the restriction of the citizens' rights to vote and be elected, according to Parvanov.

"In my opinion, an election code should be based on political balance and compromise. Otherwise, it would be doomed to instability, as every new government will change it according to its own interests," Parvanov has declared.

In his official statement, the Bulgarian President is positive that the amendments are in favor of the ruling centrist GERB party.

Parvanov has already criticized the amendments to the Election Code, which has been prepared by GERB and their far-rightist allies from Ataka (Attack), stating that the proposed changes aim at facilitating their easy and unproblematic reelection. He has also said he is concerned with whether the new amendments will deal will the notorious issue of vote buying.

In November 2010, Parvanov founded a civic movement entitled Alternative for Bulgarian Renaissance (ABV – abbreviation standing for the first three letters of the Bulgarian alphabet). He has claimed on several occasions that the formation will not be a political party and will non have its own candidates for municipal councillors, but might back candidates for mayors for the upcoming local elections in the fall of 2011.

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