site.btaLegal Affairs Committee Approves Use of Latest National Statistical Institute Census Data to Compile Voter Rolls

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs approved a proposal on Friday that voter rolls be compiled by municipal administrations in each settlement. The proposal submitted by There Is Such a People (TISP) was approved during the debate on the consolidated bill amending the Election Code.

The rolls will be based on data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) from the latest population census concerning the number of persons who have reached the age of 18 in the respective settlement.

TISP MP Nikoleta Kuzmanova said that the only change concerns the source of the data, whether voter rolls will be based on information from the Civil Registration and Administrative Services system or on NSI data from the latest population census.

According to Stoyu Stoev of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC–DB), this contradicts both national and international legislation and cannot be used in this way to clean up voter rolls.

Bozhidar Bozhanov of CC–DB said that turning the NSI database into election statistics is not a good idea.

The Committee did not approve the BSP – United Left proposal to introduce what is known as active registration. The proposal provided for voter rolls to be compiled based on the permanent address of Bulgarian citizens who voted in the most recent elections, including those who voted at their current address or elsewhere using a voting certificate, and citizens who submitted an application using the prescribed form.