site.btaParliament to Debate Six Bills Amending Election Code

Parliament on Thursday is set to debate six bills proposing amendments to the Election Code. Two of the bills were tabled by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), while Progressive Bulgaria, Democratic Bulgaria, Continue the Change and Vazrazhdane have each submitted one.

Progressive Bulgaria proposes restoring machine voting in the form used in 2021, abolishing the Abroad constituency and removing the limit of voting sections in non-EU countries to 20 each, not counting the sections at the diplomatic missions and consular posts.

The MRF seeks to lift the limit on voting sections outside the EU. It also proposes scrapping the residency requirement for voters in local elections and elections for Bulgaria's members of the European Parliament, as well as lifting restrictions on election campaigning by EU citizens who are not Bulgarian nationals.

Democratic Bulgaria proposes restoring full machine voting with a count of the voter-verified paper record. Under the proposal, section election commissions would report machine voting results by printing a tally sheet from the voting system after polls close. The bill also removes restrictions on opening voting sections outside diplomatic and consular missions in non-EU countries.

Continue the Change also proposes abolishing the limit on voting sections in non-EU countries. Its bill would require machine voting results to be recorded through both a printed tally sheet generated by the machine and the data stored on the recording device. It also provides for the use of identity document scanners to automatically enter voters' details into an electronic register. Other proposed changes would broaden the restrictions on membership of section election commissions and allow appeals against decisions by constituency and municipal election commissions that find no violation of election legislation.

Vazrazhdane proposes that voting be conducted exclusively by machine, with the printed ballots counted by section election commissions and compared with the machine-generated record. The party also seeks to reduce the Central Election Commission's term of office to four years and bar its members from holding party positions during their term and for two years afterwards. The bill further proposes that election results be entered and tabulated by state institutions rather than by the state-owned company Information Services.