Bulgaria’s Parliament has adopted changes to the Referendum Act enabling Bulgarians living abroad to vote in referendums.
The legal amendments were proposed by ruling center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB).

The changes also regulate the organization of referendums alongside local elections.

The bill was approved with 95 votes in favor, 5 votes against, and 19 abstentions.

Meanwhile, MPs rejected five other bills proposing amendments to the Referendum Act.

The rejected bills had been submitted by nationalist party Ataka (3), right-wing formation the Reformist Bloc (1), and center-left party Alternative for Bulgarian Revival (ABV) (1), according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

The rejected bills concerned the conditions for the validity of referendums and proposed a reduction in the number of signatures necessitating a mandatory referendum.

The first reading of the bill was held on Thursday, one day after President Rosen Plevneliev declared that he would propose holding a referendum alongside the local elections on October 25.