site.btaContinue the Change, Democratic Bulgaria Refer Election Code Amendments to Constitutional Court 

Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria submitted to challenged before the Constitutional Court the Election Code amendments, adopted last month, which they believe to be unconstitutional. 

The petition was signed by some 70 MPs. Parliament's Deputy Chair Nikola Minchev explained that the introduction of a choice for some citizens on whether to vote using a paper ballot or the introduced "ballot, printed by a machine" is being disputed before the Constitutional Court. This choice is only available to a only a part of voters, as those voting in sections with less than 300 voters, will not have it, he explained, adding that this is an unequal treatment of Bulgarian citizens. 

The second topic addressed in the MPs' petition to the Constitutional Court, is "turning machine voting into printing of ballots", Minchev said. According to him, the majority that adopted the Election Code amendments in Parliament has rendered machine voting useless and it no longer meets the usual standards for being deemed such. 

The MPs also want the Constitutional Court judges to pronounce themselves about the way the Election Code amendments are adopted. The amendments adopted on first reading had a much smaller scope, than what was conclusively adopted on second reading. The changes made between the two readings have basically passed only one reading [second], Minchev argued. 

He also noted that he doubts the Constitutional Court will pronounce itself before the upcoming early general elections in April. "The election process in Bulgaria should not create any doubts whatsoever among all Bulgarian citizens," Minchev said. 

Answering a question, Atanas Slavov of Democratic Bulgaria said that this is a step towards enhancing the partnership between the two political entities.