Direct democracy

Voting is to end at 19:00 EET in Bulgaria as the country is holding local elections and a referendum on remote e-voting that, advocates say, is aimed at bringing expats and other citizens back into the political process.

Simultaneously with the local elections taking place on Sunday, Bulgarians are also voting in a referendum on the introduction of remote electronic voting.

The referendum was initiated by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliv and initially was foreseen to feature three questions on the introduction of compulsory voting, majority voting and remote electronic voting.

 Voter activity was nearing 20% in a national referendum Bulgaria is holding alongside local elections, a polling agency has said.

Bulgarians are asked to have a say on whether online voting should be allowed as a recognized method in elections and nationwide polls.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev urged all voters on Friday to cast ballots in a national referendum on whether to introduce remote electronic voting that will be held alongside local elections on October 25.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has set October 25 as the date for both local elections and a referendum on remote electronic voting.

Direct democracy will happen in Bulgaria sooner or later, President Rosen Plevneliev said in a Friday interview.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said on Tuesday that the decision of the parliament to include only the question on electronic voting in the forthcoming referendum, did not take into full account the will of the nation to define the rules on the election of its representatives.

The Bulgarian Parliament adopted at second reading on Tuesday the amendments to the law on direct participation of citizens in the government.

According to the adopted amendments, the collection of 400 000 signatures will be enough to initiate a compulsory referendum, daily Dnevnik repots.

All referendums held on the same day as elections will be valid if 50% of the participants in the vote also answer to the referendum question(s), according to a decision of Bulgaria's parliamentary legal committee.

Bulgarians will now be able to vote on referendums. This is one of the prescriptions of the new law amendment to be reviewed in Parliament Wednesday.

The legislative commission to Bulgarian Parliament approved the proposals for change at end July and now the text will be further reviewed by MPs for the second time.