No Ban on Releasing Results of Opinion Polls during Election Campaigns, Bulgarian MPs Decide

Bulgaria’s Parliament rejected on Tuesday a proposed ban on the announcement of results of opinion polls during election campaigns.

The proposal has drawn fire from voters, polling agencies and politicians who have said it was unconstitutional and infringed of the freedom of speech. It was part of a set of controversial amendments to the Electoral Code which leaders of political parties making up the minority coalition government or supporting it in Parliament had agreed to drop after a meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov earlier on Tuesday.

The rejection of the proposed ban on second and final reading in Parliament will keep in place the existing rules which allow pollsters to announce results of their surveys up to the day preceding the day of the vote.

The existing ban on releasing results of opinion polls on election day will remain in force.

Earlier on Tuesday, Parliament turned down in second reading another controversial proposal – to cut the duration of election campaigns to 21 days.

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