Bulgaria Moves to Curb 'Voting Tourism'

No more than 10 people will be registered at one and the same current address in Bulgaria, according to amendments to the Civil Registration law, prepared by the ruling centrist GERB.

Exceptions will be made for families, Iskra Fidosova, a key GERB MP, clarified on Wednesday.

The measure is supposed to curb the notorious "voting tourism" phenomenon, which is expected to cast a shadow over the upcoming local elections in the fall.

It has been a common practice that electoral "nomads" coming from different parts of the country make address registrations at "key" (rich) municipalities – such as the Nessebar Black Sea resort - before local elections in order to change the vote in favor of murky businessmen, who use their political power to carry out corruption schemes.

The measure is supposed to tackle the fact that dozens of "voting tourists" are usually registered at one and the same address for convenience reasons.

On Wednesday, Iskra Fidosova said also that her party will not accept the proposal of the oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party to fight the issue forcing those who have been registered at a new current address after September 1 2010 to vote at their permanent address, as she explained it would be against the constitution.

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