The president must resubmit his request for a referendum to preserve the Bulgarian lev tomorrow. This was requested by the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov in a video comment on Facebook after today's decision by the Constitutional Court.
Earlier today, the Constitutional Court decided that the Speaker of Parliament does not have the authority to assess whether it is permissible to hold a national referendum and to reject a proposal. The decision concerns the refusal of former Speaker of the National Assembly Natalia Kiselova to submit for consideration President Rumen Radev's proposal for a referendum to preserve the leva.
"The Constitutional Court issued a surprisingly quick decision, even for me, in which it declared the refusal of the former Speaker of the National Assembly Natalia Kiselova to submit for consideration proposals from the President for a referendum to preserve the leva unconstitutional," said Kostadinov, quoted by BTA. In other words, what we also explained then, that Natalia Kiselova had violated the law, was confirmed by the court, he commented.
"The best that can happen at the moment and what I expect to happen is for the Bulgarian President to submit his request for convening such a referendum again tomorrow and for it to be submitted for consideration by the current Speaker," said the leader of "Vazrazhdane". He commented that he does not expect the Bulgarian parliament to comply with this proposal of the president, but its submission will trigger a procedure.
"When the president submits such a proposal, the Constitutional Court may be referred a second time and we will refer it", said Kostadinov.
"I expect, I cannot call, of course, Rumen Radev, he knows what he will do, but in my opinion, in this situation, if I were in his place, the only solution is for him to submit a request for consideration of his proposal for a referendum again tomorrow," commented the leader of "Vazrazhdane". We currently have another last chance to preserve the Bulgarian lev, he said.
Kostadinov added that he expects the Bulgarian president to submit, as soon as possible, tomorrow, a request to hold a referendum to preserve the Bulgarian lev.
The decision of the Constitutional Court was made with 11 votes "for" and one dissenting opinion by Judge Borislav Belazelkov. The court ruled that the Speaker of the National Assembly does not have the authority to assess the requirements established in law under which a national referendum is permissible. This authority, under the Constitution, belongs solely to the National Assembly as a whole.