Representatives of organisations of Bulgarians abroad emerged from May 5 talks with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov saying that they had his support for their objections to amendments recently approved by Parliament that would trim back polling stations outside the country. Bulgarians abroad, through organisations and on social networks, have petitioned President Rossen Plevneliev to veto the changes, approved by the National Assembly in more than one round of rewrites attended by considerable controversy. Changes to tighten the rules on opening polling stations abroad were pushed by the nationalist Patriotic Front, a minority partner in Borissov’s governing coalition.
The current version sets strict and different conditions for opening polling stations in foreign countries, in a move seen as targeted by the Patriotic Front mainly at the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which has traditional electoral strongholds in Turkey.
The meeting between Borissov and the representatives of Bulgarians abroad was brokered by Maya Manolova, currently the country’s ombudsman and formerly an MP whose own, previous version, of election law was highly controversial when her socialist party was in the 2013/14 ruling axis.
Full Article: Bulgaria’s ruling parties to hold more talks on election law changes | The Sofia Globe.