A referendum in Sozopol municipality on the construction of Bourgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline was announced invalid on April 6 as turnout was below the necessary minimum of 50 per cent. Slightly more than 30 per cent of the 12 000 residents of the municipality voted, Bulgarian language daily Dnevnik reported.

Sozopol municipality is south of Bourgas and includes the towns of Sozopol and Chernomorets, as well as several smaller villages. The population of Chernomorets voted most actively, as almost 50 per cent went to the polls in the early afternoon of April 6. In Sozopol, 37 per cent of the population had voted by 4pm.

However, some of the villages in the same municipality recorded as low as eight per cent voting activity. “Their inhabitants are not that motivated as their homes are located in Strandja (Mountains but not near the Black Sea),” observers commented, Dnevnik reported.

Sozopol referendum results repeated the results of the referendum in Bourgas, held on February 17 asking residents whether they approved of the construction of Bourgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline. Most of the people – 96.77 per cent – voted against the pipeline construction but turnout was less than 50 per cent.

Prior to the referendum, Sozopol residents collected signatures against the planned infrastructure project and about 4000 people signed the petition against the construction of Bourgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline. According to municipality mayor Panayot Reyzi, local referendums were the cheaper variant for the Black Sea municipalities, but a national referendum on the oil pipeline was needed, as “the sea belongs to everybody”.

The Black Sea municipalities of Primorsko and Nessebar, north of Bourgas are also considering a referendum on the construction of Bourgas-Alexandropoulis oil pipeline.