The debate was held on Tuesday, March 4th at the MOVE.BG house at the traditional time of 19:00.
Participants in the discussion:
During the discussion contrasting responses on the topic of mandatory voting were given by financier and vice president of SNM Georgi Naydenov, musician and member of the ‘protest network’ Leuchezar Kossev, professor of labour and insurance law at the New Bulgarian University Ivaylo Epitropov, and political scientist Hristo Atanasov. Dimo Gospodinov, lawyer and civil activist, part of the MOVE.BG team, moderated the debate.
The questions we look for answers.
Should there be mandatory voting in Bulgaria and why? Do small parties benefit from introducing this kind of statutory rule? What are the positives and negatives of the introduction of a rule like this? What are the mechanisms through which voting can become mandatory? Is it necessary to change the constitution if mandatory voting is introduced? Are there alternatives to achieve high voter turnout? Together we sought answers to these questions.
The panelists’ arguments on this topic and all of your posts online can be found here:
| Dimo Gospodinov:
“I remain rather skeptical of mandatory voting” |
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| Ivaylo Epitropov:
“I believe in the informed choice” |
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| Leuchezar Kosev:
“Too few of us Bulgarians understand the meaning of democracy." |
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| Georgi Naydenov:
“Bulgaria should have mandatory voting right now!” |
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| Hristo Atanasov:
“One thing can not be both a right and an obligation.” |
Summary of what the participants said during the discussion:
Georgi Naydenov - financier and vice president of SNM.
Many of the people who were at the protests haven’t voted, low voter turnout proves it, says Georgi Naydenov, vice president of SNM was a hard ‘yes’ for compulsory voting and believes at this point it is crucial for the political situation in Bulgaria.
Naydenov is clear that the function of this kind of law will incentivize the need to vote, and will teach the public they should vote. Therefore it should also be considered that mandatory voting is introduced; it should be removed after a certain period of time. According to him, it must be supported with incentives rather than sanctions and gave an example of a public holiday during which elections to be conducted. Contrary to the claims that Bulgaria has no tradition in the area of mandatory voting, Naydenov recalls the causal legal norm from 1919.
Hristo Atanasov - political scientist.
Hristo Atanasov was firmly against mandatory voting in his arguments, stating that one thing cannot be both a right and an obligation. The political scientist pointed out that in most countries where this law applies, it was inherited from older times and asked the question: what legitimizes its power? According to Atanasov, even if people have voted it doesn’t mean there is a legitimate democracy, and furthermore not voting is a way of voting and a strong proof that there is a problem in the country and in this way they are taking a stand. According to him, it is necessary for people to be encouraged to vote and not be obliged.
Leuchezar Kosev - musician and member of the "Protest network".
In Bulgaria everything is always backwards. Other countries have the problem that minorities don’t vote, while in Bulgaria it is the opposite. Thus Leuchezar Kosev opening argument was that Bulgarian people have a serious problem because for most of history they have not taken their own decisions. The musician asked rhetorically, ‘why is it mandatory to pay my taxes if it is not necessary to determine who rules over me?’ Kosev supports the idea of introducing compulsory voting in the country and in his opinion Bulgarians believe that their power is taken away from them.
Ivaylo Epitropov - professor of labour and insurance law at the New Bulgarian University.
Lawyer Ivaylo Epitropov based all his arguments around the importance of the informed choice. He said it was not important whether or not voting will become mandatory, what is essential is that each of us makes an informed choice. If we introduce compulsory voting as a law, what are the semantics of our goal is the main question of the professor at the New Bulgarian University. According to him, the main problem is the general lack of understanding of what is the state and how it is managed. Epitropov determined the political situation in the country as having a deficit of adequate platforms and asked how much the lack of civil society will be compensated by mandatory voting?
