No we can solve important political issues with technical changes in the election rules. We have an extremely serious problem with trust in the electoral process, with voter turnout, we have a problem with trust in political parties and in the way they represent citizens' political interests. Changes in the electoral system cannot solve these essential political problems in our political life.
This is what Dr. Vanya Nusheva said – expert on electoral systems and political sciences - in front of "Focus“.
"Then when changes to the electoral law are discussed, they must be made as a result of a broad public discussion with the consent of all or almost all participants, i.e. of the political parties, in assessing the potential benefits and negatives of such changes, with the participation of representatives of the academic community,“ she pointed out and added that for her it is inexplicable when politicians who have been actively participating in political life for many years lightly throw such proposals into the public space.
In her words, the political culture of the citizens and the way in which the parties and their leaders act on the political field are the key to how one or another electoral system will function. The proposals proposed by the GERB leader – the Greek model or the majoritarian system, according to the expert, are two different ideas that would have different consequences on the possibility of political parties participating and being represented in the parliament.
One of the positive effects of the majoritarian type of electoral system is that it allows the formation of a relatively stable parliamentary majority and helps to form a government with clear support, Dr. Nusheva also explained, and for her, in this case, it must be taken into account social processes and whether this type of system corresponds to the modern processes taking place in society.
According to her, the current majoritarian system will limit even more the political parties that are represented in the parliament. "We must stimulate, provoke the political leaders who are in the parliament to direct their efforts to interact effectively, to seek the consensus points of contact between the political parties in the parliament, so that they manage to form governments that to the maximum extent seek consensus and reduce the great dividing lines,” she stated.
According to her, it is important and essential to look for options to further specify rules in the electoral legislation related to requirements for registering political parties, the openness of the party system to new political entities, financing conditions, etc., but we have to be very careful about the ideas of changing the electoral system, "because we can end up with an electoral system that limits political pluralism, limits the number of parties represented in parliament, without, however, leading to a qualitative change in political behavior and in the style of interaction between political parties.“