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Parliament's new voting system implemented

Fri, Jan 29 2010 10:28 CET

byPetar Kostadinov

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Parliament's new voting system implemented

Photo: Krassimir Yuskesseliev

As of January 29 2010 MPs will have to use their fingerprints when voting. The system was introduced in order to prevent MPs voting with other MPs' cards as has been the practice in recent years.

Until now voting in Parliament merely required MPs to put their cards on a voting device. This made it possible for some MPs to vote with the cards of colleagues who were absent from Parliament.

This practice has been widely covered by the media who often showed a near empty empty hall with an electronic board registering an almost full house. It caused great anger among the public and was an issue every new speaker of Parliament vowed to deal with.

Now the new system requires every MP to to use his or her fingerprint in order to vote. The new system was originally brought in during the term of Ognyan Gerdjikov who was speaker of the 39th Parliament (2001-2005).

However it was Tsetska Tsacheva, Speaker of the current (41st) Parliament, who decided to introduce it in practice at the beginning of 2010.

For three weeks all of 240 MPs were asked to submit their fingerprints. All MPs agreed that the practice of voting with other MPs' cards was undermining Parliament's image.

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