Citizens demanded the resignation of the government and the parliament on Tuesday. | Photo: BIRN

Several hundred Bulgarians protested on Tuesday in Sofia, shouting “Resign” and “Mafia” and throwing eggs at parliament, as MPs voted on controversial changes to the electoral law.

The demonstration ended with clashes between police and a small group of protesters and the detention of one citizen, accused of hooliganism.

The protest came after lawmakers gave a green light to mandatory voting and agreed that citizens who do not vote in two consecutive national elections of any one type – parliamentary, presidential or municipal – will be struck off the electoral roll.

MPs rejected the proposal of the nationalist Patriotic Front party to introduce bonuses for active voters and left the President to decide whether elections and referendums can be held jointly on one day.

But the most problematic changes – the ban on opening polling sections outside the diplomatic consulates and embasses abroad and the rejection of a new voting district for the around 2 million Bulgarians living abroad – have remained intact.

‘I am totally shocked by these decisions, which are on the verge on totalitarianism,” Vladimir Petrov, a businessman from Sofia who attended the protest on Tuesday, told BIRN.

Members of various smaller parties who joined the protest say mandatory voting will hinder the representation of small parties in parliament and will serve the interests of the big parties.

‘Turning the right to vote into an obligation will automatically raise the [election] threshold for the smaller parties,” Maria Capone, from the United People’s Party, told BIRN.

“Mandatory voting is intolerable. Its purpose is to drown out the reasonable and well-informed vote,” Victor Lilov, member of the liberal DEOS party, said.

Representatives of the Reformist Bloc, RB, one of the parties that form the governing coalition, could also be spotted among the protesters.

“We urge the President and the Constitutional court to block mandatory voting. It will lead to the opposite effect – citizens will be deterred from the electoral process,” Marta Radeva, a member of the Sofia Municipal Council from the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, one of the parties that constitute RB, said.

Bulgarians who live abroad have also demanded that President Rossen Plevneliev veto the changes to the electoral law.

Members of the diaspora in Austria have sent the President a protest letter, signed by 150 former members of voting sections abroad, delivered during his visit to Vienna on Tuesday.

Activists from the initiative “Vote Without Borders” have filed a petition against the changes signed by over 5,000 Bulgarians and sent to the President, parliament and the government.

A report from Tuesday’s meeting of the four leading parties – Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB, the coalition members RB and the Alternative for Bulgarian Renaissance, ABV, and the Patriotic Front, which was also attended by the President’s adviser, Rossen Kozhuharov, meanwhile said Plevneliev was seriously considering vetoing parliament’s decisions.

MPs continued the voting marathon on a new electoral code on Wednesday with the introduction of electronic vote on the agenda.