Bulgaria Should Not Change its Election Laws Too Frequently - NGO

Vanya Nusheva from Transparency International has commented that Bulgaria cannot change election laws every time some party is dissatisfied with the results as the country would end up with an unsustainable election system.

Asked to comment on the need for changes to election laws, Nusheva declared in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio that amendments of this kind had to aim at guaranteeing integrity and legality.

"I see no problem with the preference vote option. It is one of the few adequate tools which restore the connection between Bulgarian voters and political parties. This is an instrument for boosting the competition between political leaders in a party" she said.

Nusheva informed that the NGO had prepared its own list of proposals for legislative changes which would improve the election process, including the establishment of an electoral register containing up-to-date and accurate data about voters by current address and the creation of regional census centers.

Center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), and liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) appear to have reached agreement on abolishing the preference vote option and on changes to the seat distribution methodology, according to mediapool.bg.