Bulgarian voters will head to the ballot boxes on May 20 to elect for the first time their representatives in the European Parliament. This is envisaged by a presidential decree that was published in Friday's issue of the State Gazette.

At the beginning of the week President Georgi Parvanov approved, albeit tentatively, the bill for the election of the country's first members in the European Parliament.

The president signed the decree for promulgation of the law in the State Gazette, though expressing fears that it restricts the constitutional rights of the citizens. Otherwise, he argued, the elections will be delayed and the country discredited abroad.

"The law is a step back from the democratic traditions of Bulgaria's election legislation," Parvanov conceded.

The apple of discord is a provision, which bans from voting Bulgarian nationals, who have not been living in a EU member state at least 60 days in the last three months prior to the elections.

The provision is expected to deal a heavy blow to the showing of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, an adamant supporter of the Socialist president.

Currently Bulgaria has 18 and Romania 35 MEPs at the European Parliament. They enjoy full-fledged rights, but are delegated by their parliamentary represented parties instead of elected by general suffrage.

Bulgaria's State Administration Minister Nikolay Vassilev set the cost for the country's first MEPs elections at BGN 12 M. Another BGN 20 M will be needed for the two rounds of local elections, due in the autumn.

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