We from the Parliamentary Group of the MRF-NEW BEGINNING will vote against restrictions in the number of polling stations abroad and will accordingly support the proposals requiring that these proposals be dropped. It should be clear to everyone here in this room that every Bulgarian citizen, no matter where in the world they are, whether in a Member State of the European Union or a country outside the European Union - every Bulgarian citizen has the right to vote. This is a fundamental constitutional right and everyone here should know it and comply with it. I carefully listened to the statistics presented by our colleagues from "Vazrazhdane" to the commission gathered to hear the first reading of the draft law, relating to voting procedures in specific countries as well as the percentage of voters, and respectively a breakdown of who voted for which party.
I consider that such data and statistics have absolutely no meaning at the moment, since it is incorrect to limit, and I say it again, the right of every Bulgarian citizen to vote, regardless of where they are, since this is a constitutional right.
Furthermore, this should put an end to speculation and insinuation of untruths that a given person might have a vested interest in the restrictions of the number of polling stations abroad.
This amendment, against which we will actually vote, imposes restrictions on Bulgarian citizens abroad, I repeat, when exercising their right to vote. There will be many Bulgarian citizens, no matter where they are, who will want to vote on the day of the elections, but most of them or a large part of them will not have this physical opportunity, either because they either live in a place remote from the polling stations, or simply because, as we see, due to the significantly reduced number of polling stations, there will be a huge queue of people who will want to vote, but will physically be unable to do so.
We strongly defend the right of every Bulgarian citizen, regardless of where they live in the world, to be able to vote. Because this right, in our opinion, is the basis of every democratic country which is what we claim the Republic of Bulgaria to be.
