site.btaVazrazhdane Insists that Rights of Bulgarians Voting Abroad Will Not Be Restricted by Legislative Revisions His Party Proposed

The rights of Bulgarians voting in countries outside the European Union (EU) will not be restricted in any way, even following the limitation to 20 polling stations, Vazrazhdane MP Peter Petrov told journalists on Friday. His comments come after Parliament on Thursday conclusively adopted amendments to the Election Code that slash the number of polling stations for Bulgarian elections in countries outside the EU. 

Proposed by Vazrazhdane, the revisions say that the polling stations set up outside Bulgarian diplomatic and consular missions in countries that are not members of the EU may not be more than 20.

Petrov noted that the party has been submitting such a bill for three years, which, he said, carefully analyses the voting data of Bulgarians residing outside the EU.

Asked to comment support for the bill from GERB, BSP-United Left and There Is Such a People, which are the parties in the outgoing cabinet, Petrov said the press should ask these parties to explain why they decided to support the legislation now. “We would never take part in any deals. Our goal is for Bulgarian parliamentary elections to be fair and transparent,” he added.

Asked to comment on claims that Vazrazhdane serves another party's interests, Petrov said the legislative proposal by his party "would block 30,000 votes for MRF-New Beginning and for the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (ARF)".

Bulgarian voters in Turkiye, the UK and the US will be affected the most by the Vazrazhdane-proposed revisions. At the latest Bulgarian parliamentary elections in 2024, there were 168 polling stations in Turkiye, and most of the votes cast there were for the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms, which received an estimated 64.76 % of the vote (about 29,496 ballots).

Petrov also commented on the fact that MPs will not meet on Friday, after Thursday’s 14-hour-long plenary session that ended late at night. “From what I understand unofficially, ministers and Prime Minister [Rosen Zhelyazkov] have other work and do not wish to attend the mandatory blitz control and parliamentary oversight sessions,” the MP said.

Regarding changes to the Cybersecurity Act voted on Thursday night, Petrov said: “This is a bill that serves external interests.”