BULGARIA’S PARLIAMENT PASSES AMENDMENTS TO PREVENT “ELECTION TOURISM”

On 9th of July, Bulgaria’s Parliament passed the amendments to the Civil Registration Act aiming to limit election tourism. They provide for the number of people allowed to register in one permanent or current address.

According to the amendments, the number of registrations per dwelling is not allowed to be more than twice as high as the number of individuals that can normally live in it. Permanent or current residence address registrations in hotels, motels and other dwelling for more than 4 months is not allowed, again in order to limit election tourism.

Within three days after the law comes into force, the Mayors of municipalities or regions are required to issue an order for the establishment of a commission, which will check whether or not the requirements for the address registrations are met.

Registrations found to be in violation of the law shall be cancelled.

The amendments are intended to act against migration of voters to small municipalities and registrations of many people in the same address in order to vote in the forthcoming local elections in October 2015.