The ruling majority has been under great stress after the decision of President Rossen Plevneliev to veto the restriction of the voting rights of Bulgarians abroad. That had been introduced via Election Code amendments, proposed by the Patriotic Front and supported by the governing GERB party. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov stated that the veto put GERB into a complicated situation with a risk for the majority and the cabinet’s stability. He claimed that in such a situation he would opt for democracy and the rights of the people, not for stability. Showing this attitude, on Tuesday Borissov summoned the GERB & Patriotic Front coalition parliamentary groups, in order for a way out of the situation to be found.

The exit seems tough, but it is not complicated. GERB showed will to support a revision of the Election Code even last week, wiping the restrictions out. That was stated during consultations with representatives of different organizations of Bulgarians abroad. At the second round of the consultations, held this week, the ABR, the Rightist Coalition, the Reformist Bloc and the socialists voiced to the public their support for the revision wanted.

121 MPs’ votes are necessary, in order for the presidential veto to be adopted or rejected. If GERB decides to support the veto, alongside the Reformist Bloc and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, it will have a total of 136 votes and the adoption will be easy. However, the negotiations showed that actually only the patriots and their nationalist colleagues from Ataka remained isolated in opposition. The majority for the revision of the Election Code is in fact available in advance, but it is not that majority that Borissov needs to rule and hence his concern.

All the statements around the case with the restriction of the voting rights of Bulgarians abroad were perhaps exaggerated with the purpose of testing the political attitude of the society on the eve of the presidential polls in the autumn. The PF blamed the president for imposing a veto while looking for support over a second term from any political “junk”, including the MRF. The latter commented that the movement has always been a factor at any presidential election, but its eventual candidacy is subject to forthcoming discussion. At the same time its representatives wouldn’t miss the moment to state that the presidential veto could have pretended the dropping of the compulsory vote which they did oppose. Former MRF MPs, now making up the DOST party, called on the premier to do what’s bothering him the most – get rid of the Patriots. The new socialist chair Kornelia Ninova refused to say whether they would have a joint presidential nominee with the ABR, but promised a firming of the oppositional tone, regarding GERB. The Reformist Bloc showed it could act as one and they voiced to the others their joint stance, as far as the Election Code issues were concerned. After all, Bulgaria’s home policy affairs didn’t change that much during that debate – there are still too many fractions, not powerful enough and resulting in conjuncture unions. So, the political situation’s stability is only on the surface…

English version: Zhivko Stanchev