One year after Bulgaria’s liberation from Ottoman domination in 1878, Bulgarians elected the MPs for the country’s Constituent Assembly that was to adopt the first constitution of Bulgaria; the votes were cast using beans and maize grains. Forty-three years after the Turnovo constitution was adopted in 1879, the sovereign’s opinion was asked for the first time by referendum, initiated by the Alexander Stamboliiski cabinet. The referendum question was: should the cabinet ministers who pushed Bulgaria to two national catastrophes (as a result of the Balkan War and World War I) be prosecuted and punished? The vote was cast using black and white ballots.

“That was how, in black and white, the start was given to Bulgarian referendums,” says Prof. Milko Palangourski from the Sts. Cyril and Methodius University, Veliko Turnovo. “Back then there was a different problem altogether - by force of the constitution itself, the culprits were to be brought to trial for high treason, yet politics prevailed. The second referendum, again conducted under the Turnovo constitution, was in 1946 and it was political – the question being whether the country should be a republic or a monarchy; it should be noted here, that the constitution itself stipulated that this can be changed by a Grand National Assembly. Such an assembly was convened a little later, after the referendum. The first two referendums elicited a high voter turnout and result. The third referendum was once again political and registered the highest turnout of all – 99.92 percent. It took place in 1971 and the nation had to approve the new constitution of the Zhivkov regime.”

In the most modern history of Bulgaria, there have been two referendums – in 2013 on whether a new nuclear power plant should be built and on 25 October this year – on whether there should be electronic voting. This last referendum which was held simultaneously with the local elections, registered a 35 percent voter turnout. According to data of the Central Electoral Commission 72.57 percent of the votes were “for” electronic voting and 27.43 – “against”. The referendum cleared the 20 percent turnout threshold and this means that parliament now has to discuss the question of electronic voting; the MPs will have three months to reach a decision.

Electronic voting will benefit Bulgarians living abroad most of all – they will be able to cast their vote at elections and referendums without having to travel long distances to reach a polling station. This is precisely the reason why the low voter turnout abroad was such a surprise. Bulgarians abroad cast their votes in the referendum at 294 polling stations in a total of 45 countries. According to Foreign Ministry data, a total of 26,939 Bulgarians voted abroad. According to Central Electoral Commission data, 92.12 percent of them voted for electronic voting. The greatest number of votes were cast in Great Britain – 4,875, in Germany – 3,836, in Spain – 3,098 and in France – 1,019.

We began with the history of referendums in the country, so we end the same way. One referendum takes us back to 1874, when the population of Macedonia were allowed to vote on whether they wanted to join the Bulgarian exarchate. No less than two thirds of the Christian population, who defined themselves as Bulgarian, voted “for”. As a result the Skopje, Ohrid and Bitola eparchies were set up, and later – the Nevrokop eparchy. The significance of this referendum is frequently underestimated, yet as a result of it, the boundaries of the Bulgarian exarchate were used to set down the territory of Bulgaria at the San Stefano conference and we all know that these were the national borders that had become the ideal of the nation over the next fifty years. Now, there are many Bulgarians in Macedonia eager to obtain Bulgarian citizenship. But what do the results of the referendum held on Sunday show? At the polling station in Edirne where there was a five member commission, six people cast their vote. In Bitola – seven. So much for the history of referendums and the voter turnout of Bulgarians in our day.

English Milena Daynova