Bulgaria's Fmr President Urges Talks on Ethnic Tensions

Bulgarian President (2002-2012) Georgi Parvanov has called on his successor Rosen Plevneliev to trigger a national security council meeting over the developments related to Bulgaria-Roma tensions.

Under the constitution, it lies within the powers of the President to call in the Consultative Council for National Security, a gathering of executive members, leaders in Parliament, and top military officials.

Parvanov said at a Tuesday press conference of his Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) party that tensions weren't enough to jolt the governing majority.

However, he warned that the past weeks' developments in the Sofia neighborhood of Orlandovtsi and earlier in the Southwestern Bulgarian village of Garmen required a serious debate.

Both places saw in mid-May and early in June the flares of Bulgaria-Roma tensions, with protests erupting over music played too loudly in neighborhoods dominated by Roma community members.

Parvanov also reiterated he might throw support behind the opposition DPS party's proposal for full introduction of a majority system.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), Bulgaria's third-largest political force, earlier proposed that a forthcoming referendum on election rules this autumn offer citizens the option to say whether all Bulgarian lawmakers are to be elected through a majority system.

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