Opposition DPS Party Proposes Rewording of Question on Electoral Rules Referendum

Bulgaria's opposition party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) proposed a rewording to one of the questions likely to feature in the referendum on changes to the electoral rules, which is expected to be held simultaneously with the forthcoming local elections in the autumn.

The leader of DPS Lyutvi Mestan announced on Wednesday that his party will submit a proposal for the question concerning the electoral system to be changed to whether all 240 MPs should be elected under a majority system.

According to Mestan, Bulgarian citizens wanted the introduction of a majority electoral system and they wanted all MPs to be elected under the new system rather than only part of them.

The leader explained that the party had continuously expressed its opposition to the introduction of majority electoral system as this would lead to the disappearance of smaller parties and would endanger the political pluralism of the country.

Mestan made it clear that DPS was not afraid from anything and the party would not lose support from the introduction of a majority voting system.

The leader warned that in case the parliament does not support the rewording, the party will initiate a petition attracting the signatures of more than 500 000 citizens backing the proposed change.

The referendum on electoral rules, which has been repeatedly proposed by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, is foreseen to feature three questions.

Apart from the question on majority electoral system, the other two questions should concern the introduction of compulsory voting and electronic voting.