Bulgaria's National Assembly has to solve another important task before it is clear whether a new cabinet will be formed within the current Parliament or the country has to face early Parliamentary elections. Following the National Referendum, the country's National Assembly now has to discuss amendments to the Electoral Code. The latest amendments to the Electoral Code were made a week before the Presidential elections. However, over 2.5 million Bulgarians demanded during the referendum a radical change of the electoral system and voted in support of the introduction of a single-member majoritarian system in two rounds. Apparently, it is quite dangerous for any political force to neglect the will of so many Bulgarian citizens. The political parties have realized that and although they showed some reticence towards the introduction of a completely new election system, they would agree with the new challenge.

On Monday, November 21, Bulgaria's Ombudsman Maya Manolova and supporters of the majoritarian system submitted a draft bill to the National Assembly, proposing amendments to the voting system. According to the new draft bill, Bulgaria will be divided into 231 single-member electoral districts. 9 electoral districts will be launched abroad, the new proposal further envisages. The nominee who earns over half of all valid votes will be elected an MP. If none of the candidates earns over 50% of the votes on the first round, a second round of elections will be held. However, the new zoning raises serious questions. On one hand, the authorities will have to consolidate some districts due to their depopulation, which may cause problems regarding representation. Moreover, according to the new draft bill, citizens will be able to cast their ballots on Parliamentary elections, if they reside for at least 6 months in a given electoral district.

It is not clear yet how the mandates will be distributed abroad. Even Bulgaria's Ombudsman Manolova refrained from claiming that her draft bill was the best option and admitted that her top priority was to back the will of the Bulgarians who voted at the latest referendum and that she has not held discussions or consultations with any political party yet.

According to unofficial information, the outgoing ruling GERB party has decided to support the will of the citizens. However, GERB learned at discussions with representatives of other political parties, except for the Bulgarian Socialist Party, that those parties would not support the introduction of a majoritarian system, proposed by the organizers of the referendum. The introduction of the new electoral system is impossible with the votes of GERB's MPs only. However, if the Bulgarian Socialist Party also decides to support that proposal, the introduction of a majoritarian system in two rounds will be inevitable. It is not clear how the MPs from the socialist party will act in Parliament, but according to preliminary information, most members of the Bulgarian Socialist Party support the mixed member proportional representation.

According to experts, the majoritarian electoral system favors the biggest parties GERB and BSP and reduces the chances of the smaller parties to enter the National Assembly. However, the warnings that a majoritarian system introduced in the current conditions would probably deepen the problems related to vote manipulations,are left aside. Bulgaria's Ombudsman Maya Manolova came up with the argument that the country's politicians have already made many mistakes and that it would not be the end of the world if the Bulgarian citizens made a mistake at the referendum. Apparently, her view is supported by the main political parties, too. We will soon learn the results of the forthcoming radical change in Bulgaria's election system.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov