BULGARIA’S PARLIAMENT OVERTURNED THE PRESIDENTIAL VETO ON CHANGES TO THE ELECTORAL CODE

On 18th of May, Bulgaria’s Parliament rejected the veto imposed by the President Rossen Plevneliev on the amendments to the Electoral Code.

The veto concerns the voting abroad by Bulgarian nationals and the opening of polling stations only at the diplomatic services of Bulgaria – consulates and embassies, in cities with population of more than 1 million outside the EU.

The votes in favour of the amendments to the Electoral Code, i.e. against the veto, came from GERB, the Reformist Bloc, the Patriotic Front, Bulgarian Democratic Centre and Ataka. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms voted against.

Three MPs from the Reformist Bloc also voted against the amendments and three abstained. From the independent MPs, one voted in favour and 6 voted against. The Bulgarian socialist party and ABC did not take part in the voting.

The law has been passed, which means the veto is rejected, commented the Chairperson of Parliament, Tsetska Tsatcheva after the voting.

Minimum 121 votes needed to be collected to overcome the veto.

The debate in the plenary hall on the returned texts of the code went on for 3 hours. Earlier on 18th of May, Krasimir Karakatchanov, the co-chair of the Patriotic Front (the parliamentary group of which proposed the amendments) told journalists that about 130 votes were needed in order to overcome the presidential veto. He expressed confidence that the talks between the parties from the ruling coalition would lead to the right solution to reject the veto and after that to draft changes to the law, which will dispell the doubts that someone was trying to violate the rights of the Bulgarians abroad to vote.