Bulgaria Chief Prosecutor to Meet TV Show Host over Referendum

Politics » DOMESTIC | December 5, 2016, Monday // 11:07
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Chief Prosecutor to Meet TV Show Host over Referendum File photo, BGNES

Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov will meet popular talk show host Slavi Trifonov on Monday to discuss the latter's claims of violations in the referendum held as months.

Trifonov, whose show launched the three-issue referendum (initially with six questions), has called into question the legitimacy of electoral authorities' decision that the poll is non-binding.

Activity fell just 12 027 votes short of the threshold that would have obliged Parliament to accept the decision, with more than three million people having voted "yes".

The questions posed were on the introduction of a first-past-the-post system, making votes (but also referendums) compulsory, and a drastic cut in state subsidies handed out to political parties.

Members of Trifonov's initiative committee, campaigning for the referendum lodged two consecutive claims to contest the results, but proceedings one of the claims were halted by administrative reasons.

Scriptwriters working for Trifonov have accused the election authorities of failing to respect the will of the people, authorities themselves argue they adhered to the law.

Under Bulgarian legislation, referendum results are binding only if turnout is equal to or higher than that of the last parliamentary election.

Trifonov's referendum, however, made it to the Parliament floor as voter activity was high enough to force MPs into debating and voting on the issues concerned.

One of them, involving state subsidies, was snubbed by MPs as the budget for next year was adopted last week.

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Tags: Slavi Trifonov, Referendum, Sotir Tsatsarov

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