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| What Is New in the New Election Law?
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Dr. Mihail Konstantinov
Member of the Central Election Commission
The new Law for Electing Members of Parliament (or
briefly the Election Law) was adopted on April 13, 2001, replacing
the old Election Law that had been in force for almost ten years.
The new law was created with the active support of experts from all
parties and with the contribution of a number of CEC members.
According to the new law the election system remains
as the previous one. It is a proportional system, with a 4 percent
barrier at a nation wide level. Although regional stiff lists exist
in the 31 election regions, the total number of mandates of each
party or coalition is determined by the total number of votes cast
in the whole country. The D'Hondt method is used for transforming
votes into number of MP-s. This method produces almost proportional
results, giving a limited advantage to larger parties. For example,
in 1994 the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) had votes, which
corresponded do 123.5 MP, but the D'Hondt method gave it a total of
125 MP. In 1997 the United Democratic Forces (UDF) had votes for
135.5 mandates but actually received 137 MP. We stress that this is
not a disadvantage of the D'Hondt method - often it is preferable
to have larger majorities and more stable cabinets.
The election system has a majority element - the
institute of independent candidates. However, there was no
successful independent candidate in the 1991, 1994 and 1997
parliamentary elections. My own prediction is that in 2001 there
will be no independent candidate elected as well.
The color ballots will be used once again as in the
1990, 1991, 1994 and 1997 parliamentary elections. Almost all
experts in Bulgaria agree that it is time to start using white
integral ballots, following the world practice. Such ballots were
used in 1999 local elections. Then in some regions the part of
invalid votes increased up to 15 percent, with an average of 8
percent for the country. This is one of the reasons to keep the
color ballots. However, the problem with the type of ballots is
considered as a political one in this country and is
correspondingly solved by politicians.
As a whole, the political parameters of the law are
the same as in the old one, and this is also a political decision.
There was a wide discussion in media about the new election law,
and a number of changes has been introduced as result of it. This
was a good example of the active and fruitful participation of
civil society in the political decision-making.
A new element in the law is the fact that parties
and independent candidates have to pay for the ballots (Article
76). Although not very often, this practice exists in some
countries in Europe and in the world. This idea was approved by 80
percent of the voters according to opinion polls. The corresponding
legal texts are contested before the Constitutional Court by a
group of MP.
According to the new law the prime minister and the
ministers continue to perform their duties after being nominated as
candidates for MP. This text was strongly attacked by media and
politicians from the opposition. It is very strange since the same
text was adopted in the old law by a decision of the Great National
Assembly on September 13, 1991, and accepted as lawful one by the
Constitutional Court only months after. Moreover, in 1991 the
cabinet of the prime minister D. Popov continued to perform its
duties in the pre-election period although some of its members were
nominated as candidates for MP. Needless to say that all over the
world the ministers do not terminate their duties while being
nominated as candidates. The corresponding legal text is also
contested before the Constitutional Court. It is my personal
expectation that the Court will reject the contest. The
above-mentioned discussion is very typical for the style and moral
of some representatives of the Bulgarian political class.
The main changes and new elements in the new law
regard to the procedures and technologies of the election process.
The old law had several very serious drawbacks in this respect. In
particular, the counting procedure in the new law is based on the
concepts of "vote" instead on that of "ballot" since the voting is
performed by envelopes, which may (or may not) contain more than
one ballot (Article 97).
For the first time in the new law a party or a
coalition is not allowed to have a majority in any of the election
commissions: Central, regional and sectional. Also, the chairperson
and the secretary, who sign the decisions, must be from different
political forces (Article 20). The accusation that in the present
CEC this rule is violated does not correspond to the facts. Indeed,
now CEC consists of 6 representatives of UDF (including vice
chairperson and secretary), 5 of BSP (including the chairperson), 2
of the People's Union (including vice chairperson), 1 of the
Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, 1 of the Business Block, 1 of
the EuroLeft, 1 of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms and 7
independent judges (including vice chairperson). According to the
old law the decisions of election commissions were taken by a
qualified majority of 2/3. The new law, since no majorities can
occur, provides decisions to be taken by a simple majority.
Also for the first time special measures are
foreseen for people with physical damages, enabling them to take
part in the voting.
The access to the national electronic media and the
conduct of the election campaign as a whole are decided in a modern
way, following the principles of equal opportunities and fair
access to national resources.
The financing of the election campaign and the
donations in particular are regulated in detail. There are
limitations on the sums that can be spent by a party or a
coalition. It is forbidden for juridical subjects, with more than
50 percent state or municipal property, to finance the election
campaign. No financing is allowed to foreign physical and juridical
subjects (Articles 71, 72 and 73).
In the new law, as well as in the recent practice of
CEC, drastic measures are taken against any attempt to manipulate
and/or to falsify the voting results. All procedures are
transparent and clear including vote counting in the polling
stations, regional election commissions and CEC. The protocols,
prepared in identical triplicate, go different ways after being
signed, and are counted and compared in different computer centers.
Tens of thousands of observers will, as usual, take part in the
elections. Representatives of all political parties and observers
will receive copies of all 12, 600 protocols of polling stations
(sections) all over the country. In only 3 days after the elections
detailed results for each one of the 12, 600 sections will be put
on the web site of CEC with all numbers from the protocols,
including the votes for each party, coalition and independent
candidate. All political parties and everybody interested in the
elections will receive the Bulletin of CEC, containing the above
data on hard and soft versions.
The idea is very simple - if a falsification occurs
in the results, at least in one section, then something must be
wrong (otherwise everything is OK by definition). But everybody
will be able to compare its own observation for every single
section with the data of CEC. And if somebody is not satisfied with
the results, he or she may contest the results before the
Constitutional Court following the corresponding legal procedure
from Article 112. It is worth mentioning that in the 1991, 1992,
1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 elections no single contest for a
particular section had been made (in some cases local elections
were declared invalid by courts but mainly for reasons connected
with addresses of voters and never for reasons connected with
processing the protocols). It is my personal expectation that in
the 2001 elections the situation will be the same.
As in the old law, CEC will again determine the
mandates in the election regions proportionally to the population
(Article 23, (1), 10). Of course, the results from recent
population count (March 2001) will lead to changes in the mandates,
for instance Kardzhali region will have 1 mandate less. This of
course will not change the total number of MP of any party,
including the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. We recall that the
total number of mandates of any political force is determined at a
national, not regional, level. That CEC determines the mandates was
criticized by politicians from ethnic parties. They obviously
forget that this rule was in force in the last 10 years, and
probably do not know that the number of regional mandates has
nothing to do with the total number of MP of any party.
A current problem in the Bulgarian elections is the
content of voters' lists. At present, there are about 6, 300, 000
eligible voters in Bulgaria. The lists, however, will again contain
about 7, 000, 000 names as usual. The main reason is that about
600, 000 people left the country in the last 10 years, at least
500, 000 of them being aged 18 or more. Their names are still in
the lists. Of course, extra names in the lists should make no
problem if the polling station commissions are doing their job
properly.
The coming June 17 elections are considered as very
important by the people and by the politicians. That is why,
according to our national traditions, there will be countless
accusations and contra-accusations, dirty tricks and more. But this
must not hide the fact that here, in my country, we have a working
democracy and a working election machinery in particular. In
Bulgaria every vote matters because it is properly counted. Which
is not always the case even in countries with established
democracies.
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