4.35 M Votes Needed for First Bulgarian Referendum

The first democratic national referendum in Bulgaria, set to take place January 27, 2013 on the topic of nuclear energy, needs little less than 4.35 M votes cast to be valid.

According to Bulgarian legislation, the validity of a national refernum depends on the numeric turnout for last parliamentary elections, and needs to be equal or higher.

"This means 4,345,450 people will need to vote in January, if the referndum is to be valid," said in an interview Sunday Bulgarian election authority spokeswoman Ralitsa Negentsova.

For a positive outcome, half of that number - i.e. 2,172,725 people - will need to have voted "yes."

The question posed to Bulgarian citizens will be "Should nuclear energy be developed in Bulgaria through the construction of a new NPP?"

The specific cause for the convocation of a referendum is the unclear fate of frozen Belene NPP project.

The referendum was sponsored by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, which gathered a petition of more than the 0.5 M legally needed signatures.

The poll was backed by ruling GERB party, which however via its MPs edited the referendum question, omitting a specific reference to Belene NPP.