Top Bulgarian Socialist Vows New Election Code by 2014

The Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Maya Manolova, from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, photo by BGNES

By the end of the current plenary session (end of the year) Bulgaria could very well have a brand new Election Code, according to the Deputy Speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament, Maya Manolova.

Manolova, a Member of the Parliament from the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, and Chair of the ad hoc parliamentary committee on the matter, says the latter has approved a draft Election Code, which is now to be given to all parliamentary groups and all lawmakers so that they can make proposals and table their own Bills.

She stressed the draft was supported by her party, the liberal predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, DPS, and the far-right nationalist Ataka, and not by the formerly-ruling centrist and opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, which is the fourth parliamentary represented political formation and has the most Members of the Parliament, but not a majority.

The main issue in the new Code is the type of voting system, including majority and preferential vote.

The left wing is proposing to implement electronic voting, to increase until then civil control on the printing of ballots and on the ballot count, to alleviate as much as possible the process of registering to vote and of the actual voting, new rules for electing members of the Central Electoral Commission, (CEC), updating accurately voters' lists, and clear rules for election campaigning, including its reporting in the media.

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