Initiative

Bulgaria's Parliament will hold an extraordinary sitting on a proposal for a referendum on election rules on Tuesday.

Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov scheduled the extraordinary sitting for Tuesday at 2 pm.

The referendum proposal was initiated by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and was backed by an initiative committee.

Bulgaria's Parliament is to convene on Tuesday, with a proposal to hold a referendum on voting rules set a single issue on the agenda.

Lawmakers were initially poised to discuss on Thursday a referendum petition allowing citizens to have their say on majority elections system, mandatory voting, and e-voting, but lack of quorum hindered the session.

The right-wing campaigning group that pushed successfully last year for a referendum outlawing the possibility of gay marriage is now turning its attention to electoral reform.

On Wednesday, Zeljka Markic, a member of In the Name of the Family, announced that they were collecting signatures for the referendum on the way people vote.

Bulgarian Parliament Speaker Mihail Mikov has promised that the referendum on voting rules proposed January is to be put onto MPs' agenda this week.

His announcement comes nearly five months after President Rosen Plevneliev suggested that a national poll should be held on three key issues: the introduction of a majority election system, mandatory voting, and e-voting.

There will be no referendum on election rules in Bulgaria alongside the May 25 European Parliament elections.

More than 300,000 signatures have been collected in favour of a referendum on Bulgaria's election rules and procedures.

Estimates from Tuesday morning claim the number has even reached 350,000, according to Bulgarian news agency Mediapool, which cites sources from the referendum's initiative committee.