Bulgaria's GERB Party to Boycott New Election Code

Krasimir Tsipov, MP of center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) has said the formation opposes the creation of a new Election Code and its members will abstain from voting on the newly drafted bill.

Tsipov, as cited by dnevnik.bg, presented GERB's stance during Thursday's sitting of the ad-hoc parliamentary committee tasked with drafting a new Election Code.

During the sitting, the representatives of parliamentary groups stated their views on the bill which was first presented 20 days ago.

The ad-hoc committee, whose 3-month mandate expires in October, includes representatives of civic organizations.

Tsipov emphasized that GERB would boycott the new draft Election Code because there was nothing new or nothing different about it.

BSP MP Maya Manolova, who chairs the ad-hoc committee, insisted that over 90% of the provisions had been changed.

"Taking into account that preferential voting is introduced for the first time, as well as machine voting, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) becomes professionalized, the media coverage of the election campaign is thoroughly changed, the rules for registering candidates change, the creation of electoral committees abroad is simplified," she pointed out, according to the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

Nationalist party Ataka and the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) said they would support the new draft Election Code and described it as good place to start.

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