site.btaVazrazhdane Leader Kostadinov Calls Victory in Defending Bulgarian Statehood, Parliament's Rejection of President's Election Code Veto

Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov told journalists in the parliamentary lobby on Wednesday, after the president's veto on changes to the Election Code related to polling stations in countries outside the European Union was rejected, that with the vote, Bulgarian people achieved victory in defending Bulgarian statehood.

"Bulgarian statehood has been steadily eroding for years, and voting in Turkiye, mass illegal voting, was one of the most significant problems for the democratic electoral process," Kostadinov said.

According to him, "anyone who has sworn to uphold the laws and Constitution of the country and to be guided by the people in all their actions should have voted in support of Vazrazhdane’s proposal and not for the veto of [former president Rumen] Radev's spokesperson, who, like him, took on the role of defender of a foreign country, in this case Turkiye."

"GERB is doing what we tell them to do. And as you can see, they did exactly what we told them to do," Kostadinov added.

Parliament rejected the president's veto and re-adopted the contested amendments to the Election Code at second reading.

The amendments to the Election Code were supported by 126 MPs, opposed by 86, and 11 abstained.