The National Assembly voted on March 4 to overturn President Rossen Plevneliev’s veto of a number of provisions of the Election Code. The vote was 138 to 80, with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms and Ataka, as well as three “independent” MPs voting together, and only centre-right opposition party GERB voting to accept Plevneliev’s decision to return several parts of the controversial legislation to Parliament for reconsideration. Plevneliev spelt out his objections in detail on February 28 in a written response to the law that had been approved by Parliament seven days earlier, and the March 4 special sitting was called to respond. In swift succession, the ad hoc committee on the electoral legislation – headed by Maya Manolova, the BSP MP who had the task of getting the Election Code through Parliament – overturned the veto, followed by the vote in the House.
It had been widely expected that the BSP would be able to get Plevneliev’s veto overturned.
The MRF voted to overturn the veto while also confirming that it would seek Plevneliev’s support to challenge in the Constitutional Court provisions against election campaigning in any language other than Bulgarian.
The language rules were not among the reasons for Plevneliev imposing the veto.
Full Article: Bulgarian Parliament overturns presidential veto of election code | The Sofia Globe.