The first local elections since Bulgaria became a European Union member are scheduled for October 28. As an EU member Bulgaria gives the right to other EU nationals residing in the country to vote and be nominated for municipal councillors.
The Local Elections Bill adopted this spring indeed allows EU nationals to vote and be nominated for municipal councillor candidates but it also sets some restrictions which might effectively mean the bill is just a charade. Bureaucracy is probably the first obstacle facing those keen enough to compete with Bulgarians for a place in their respective municipal council. It is not just that. Just to be eligible to vote a EU national has to take several steps more than his Bulgarian neighbour and with the absence of e-government this means potentially wasting time during working hours.
According to the bill, every EU national aged over 18 who has lived in Bulgaria during the 10 months before the election date are eligible to vote and can be nominated as a municipal councillor, but not for the position of mayor. The EU nationals must have the status of permanent residency or indefinite leave to remain. They must submit in advance a written declaration stating they want to vote in the respective municipality or to be nominated as a municipal councillor.
The declarations to vote are filed at the respective municipality 40 days before the elections. Every EU national should state in the declaration their citizenship, address in Bulgaria, the number of their document giving them permanent residency or indefinite leave to remain, the date of registration and the date of their passport. The election lists consist of two sections. Section one shows the details of Bulgarian nationals and section two shows the data of EU nationals who have filed their declarations and the place where they must vote. Section two will be made public 25 days before the elections and usually the lists are pasted on the walls of the schools in the respective neighbourhood where the elections take place or in some other public place. If someone wants to remove their name from the list they must write to the mayor of their municipality no more than seven days before the elections.
The local election committees register the candidates for municipal councillors who have to be nominated either by a political party, an election coalition or an initiative committee from the respective election region. The candidate has to present a declaration saying that they accept the nomination. A document stating that there are no court cases pending against the candidate should be presented, as well as a document proving that the candidate does not have a non-EU citizenship. Additionally, they also need to provide the same data as required on the declaration to vote. This registration should be completed no more than 30 days before the October 28 elections.
These administrative challenges are not the only ones the election bill presents to EU nationals who want to take part in the elections. Giving the current political situation in Bulgaria a EU citizen is more likely to compete for a place in a municipal council as an independent rather than as member of any of the traditional political parties. An independent candidate in the eyes of the law means a candidate proposed by an initiative committee.
In terms of the initiative committee the registration document should be signed by a certain number of voters living in the candidate’s municipality.
According to the bill a candidate for municipal councillor should be nominated by 250 voters in a municipality with up to 50 000 inhabitants. In municipalities with populations up to 100 000 people the number of supporters is 500 and in municipalities with more than 100 000 people living in them the requested number of supporters needed to register as municipal councillor candidate is 1000 people. This number applies to cities such as Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas. According to some statistics the number of foreigners living in Bulgaria today is close to 50 000, including non-EU nationals who are not eligible to vote at all. So unless someone has made themselves popular among their Bulgarian neighbours they might have some difficulties finding 1000 people to support them if they live in the four cities mentioned above. In the villages at least the situation seems more positive with “just” 500 signatures required.
The political parties and election coalitions should register before the Central Election Committee 45 days before the elections which means September 12. The parties can register themselves before the Local Election Committees until September 17. This is the deadline for publishing the election lists as well.
There are also some interesting laws governing election campaigns.
The election campaign starts after the deadline for registration has passed but with all the the different dates for registration in front different election bodies it is not clear when campaigning can begin.
The bill says that all candidates have equal access to all sources of information for their election campaign. The format of the public debates on the two national public media, the Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio, are organised by their executives in co-operation with the parties, coalitions and initiative committees according to certain rules. These rules will be set by the Central Election Committee no later than 31 days before the elections. The election spots must be no longer than one minute each. Private broadcasters can offer different conditions to the candidates as long as they are equal to all and are announced 10 days before the start of the campaign.
Election campaigns can be financed by donations made by companies and individuals. There are some limitations to the amount that can be donated. Individuals can donate no more than 10 000 leva while the limit for companies is set by the law at 30 000 leva.
Companies with a five per cent, or greater, stake owned by the state or a municipality are forbidden to donate funds. The same applies for companies and joint ventures with a 25 per cent, or greater, foreign-owned stake. Religious organisations and companies involved in gambling activities are also not allowed to donate to campaigns. The election bill sets a limit to the funds a candidate for municipal councillor can spend on their campaign – 5000 leva. One month after the elections all candidates should present their financial reports to the National Audit Office.
If all this information about the elections is not enough for you, you need not worry. The bill says that the Central Election Committee should produce TV spots aimed at informing EU nationals about their rights in the up-coming elections and all the procedures that need to be met. Hopefully the TV spots will not be in Bulgarian.
