March 28 was one of the most anticipated dates for the parliamentary elections and has been under discussion since the beginning of 2020. The other option was for May 23, but that means 2 months without parliament. This was commented by Prof. Mihail Konstantinov on the air of “NOVA”. According to him, there are issues around the vote that are essential.
„The constitutional right of Bulgarian citizens is the right to vote, with the exception of those serving a sentence of“ imprisonment „and those placed under guardianship. Bulgarians over the age of 18 have the right to vote. And what do we do with people who are quarantined and those who are currently ill?“
„Next to us, Northern Macedonia held elections for 3 days. The Czech Republic is holding elections for 2 days, and next year Canada will have elections in 2 days. I suggest that Bulgarian representatives go to the Romanian embassy and ask the relevant attaché on these issues to share Romanian legislation and practice on the issue. What we saw on TV were big rooms, people were in a very big destination from each other, they were wearing gloves.“
According to Prof. Konstantinov, it is good to see what the Romanians have done, even though they have the lowest turnout in years. He stressed that Bulgarians cannot and should not be deprived of their constitutional rights.
The COVID pandemic has hit the whole world and there is nothing reprehensible about the Bulgarian deputies to gather and take any additional measures to protect people’s health during the voting, the expert said. He suggested that people who have already contracted the virus form commissions in hospitals where there are patients. According to him, it is not possible for the doctors to deal with this at the moment when they are overworked.
Machine voting hides a medical risk, said Prof. Konstantinov. He said they were not scheduled to be voted on during a pandemic.
