Today, the third day since parliament interrupted its election recess to introduce new amendments to the Election Code, the Committee on Law at the National Assembly is still discussing them. The Code was adopted a few months ago at the cost of a heavy compromise inside the ruling coalition and it makes no effort to conceal the fact that new amendments are a way for it to remain in office. Everybody is aware that this government is doomed to “dynamic stability” but still, the question arises why the rules of voting are being changed midway into the election campaign and when all this will end.

The original agreement between Gerb, the Reformist Bloc and the Patriotic Front was for minor changes to election rules regarding the restriction of the number of polling stations opened for Bulgarian nationals abroad, compulsory voting and inclusion in ballots of a box reading “I support no one”. For the submission of the minor changes to the Committee on Law, however, as many as 12 bills have been tabled for amendments to the Election Code. After the first reading in the Committee, the restriction of a maximum of 35 polling stations in foreign countries is likely to be dropped for EU countries but will remain for the rest. It was also voted that votes stating “I support no one” should be counted in a different way when the outcomes of proportional or majority representation elections are determined. These votes will be part of the real votes based on which the outcome will be determined in majority elections for president and mayors, but will not be counted when calculating the outcome of parliamentary elections and of elections for municipal councilors. The most complicated debate though was about dropping compulsory voting opposed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party and DPS, the predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

In case the second reading at the level of the Committee on Law completes today, the first reading in the plenary hall is expected tomorrow, Friday. This should be followed by a second reading and the promulgation of amendments to the Election Code in the Official Gazette, a mandatory condition for their enforcement. However, even before these phases of the changes are completed, it has become clear that further complications are in the offing. Counting the protest vote and lifting the restrictions for opening polling stations in EU imply that the Central Election Commission shall haveto take steps and change the technology of vote counting in the remaining only two weeks to the presidential elections. It has to organize new trainings of election commissions and an information campaign for citizens. The software for feeding elections results should be modified as well. CEC vows that it will live up to the challenge but at the cost of further expenses. Dropping restrictions on the number of polling stations in EU makes things more complicated for the Foreign Ministry especially in the case of Great Britain where many Bulgarians are willing to vote.

In the meantime, the election campaign is underway in a routine way and seems untouched by the dramatic debates surrounding the rules of voting. Pollsters have also made some predictions. After Alpha Research now Sova Haris has predicted a runoff between Gerb contender Tsetska Tsacheva and Rumen Radev nominated by BSP. At the first round Tsacheva is forecast to capture 34 percent of the vote, and Radev, 28.6 percent. The nationalists' contender Krassimir Karakachanov is so far ranked third with 12.5 percent followed by Ivaylo Kalfin (ABV) with 6.6 percent and Traycho Traykov (RB) with 5.1 percent. According toSova Haris, the runoff will be very close with forecasts giving 38.7 percent to Tascheva and 37.8 percent to Radev.

This year the presidential elections will be held simultaneously with a national referendum for changes to the political system initiated by TV host Slavi Trifonov. In the Sova Haris poll 67 percent of respondents have said they will vote in the referendum, and 13.5 percent have said they will not take part in it. It is quite likely to see an election turnout exceeding 50 percent and this will make the results in the referendum mandatory.

English Daniela Konstantinova