National Referendum in Bulgaria – mission still impossible

published on 11/19/09 8:51 AM

Even though Bulgaria has been on the road to Democracy for 20 years now, there are not very many instances when Bulgarian citizens have been able to take direct part in decision-making on important national or local issues. It turned out that Bulgaria is the only Balkan country where there has been no national referendum after the democratic changes. Last year the citizens of Burgas and Sozopol, both on the Black Sea coast, had the opportunity to voice their stand in view of the construction of the Burgas Alexandrupolis petrol pipeline. The results of both local referendums, however, are illegitimate because they did not achieve the turnout of 50%+1, required by the then acting Bill on Plebiscite. In late May the 40th National Assembly endorsed a new Bill on the direct participation of the citizenship in the state and local rule. According to its author Yanaki Stoilov from the BSP it envisages a large number of issues on which Bulgarian citizens can voice a stand in a local or nationwide referendum. Another step forward is that such a referendum can be initiated by the citizenship and not only by Parliament, the Council of Ministers or the Head of State as it was according to the previous bill. The representatives of civil organizations in Bulgaria admit the progress made through the new law but voice the opinion that it is not enough to stimulate public activeness. According to the acting law in order for a referendum decision to be recognized it should have the votes of at least as many people as there have been during the latest parliamentary elections. Such a requirement is impossible to meet, is the categorical opinion of NGOs. In support to that thesis Constitutional Law expert Dr Martin Belov points out that by tradition the highest turnout is observed in general elections, followed by those for local rule and finally – voting in a referendum. That is why 13 civil organizations have sent a letter to the new Parliament insisting for that requirement to be dropped or for a referendum to be accepted as valid with a 20% turnout. Another demand is for a reduction in the number subscriptions needed to initiate a referendum. In the initial version of the bill the number was 150 000 and Parliament was to make the final decision on whether to comply with the civil initiative or reject it. Upon collecting 300 000 signatures, however, launching a referendum was a must. Discussions on the bill on second reading increased these figures to 200 000 and 500 000 respectively. NGOs claim that requirement would be impossible to meet and would practically block the possibility for Bulgarian citizens to take direct part in the making of crucial decisions. That is why they demand that the bill be returned to its original version as well as that the term for collecting the subscriptions is increased from 3 to 6 months.

English version: Iva Letnikova

По публикацията работи: Rumyana Tsvetkova

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National Referendum in Bulgaria – mission still impossible

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