2016 Bulgarian referendum

2016 Bulgarian referendum

6 November 2016
Do you support MPs being elected by a majority electoral system with an absolute majority in two rounds?
For   73.80% Against   16.47% Neither   9.73%
Do you support the introduction of compulsory voting in elections and referendums?
For   63.48% Against   26.63% Neither   9.89%
Do you support the annual state subsidy granted to finance political parties and coalitions to be one lev for every vote received in the last parliamentary elections?
For   74.02% Against   15.40% Neither   10.58%
Yes:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%

A three-question referendum was held in Bulgaria on 6 November 2016 alongside presidential elections. Voters were asked whether they supported limiting public funding of political parties to one lev per year per valid vote received at the previous elections, the introduction of compulsory voting in elections and referendums, and changing the electoral system for the National Assembly to the two-round system. In order to be binding, the number of voters participating in the referendum must be equal to or higher than the number who voted in the 2014 parliamentary elections.

All three proposals were supported by a majority of those voting, but turnout was slightly lower than the 2014 parliamentary elections, meaning the quorum was not met. However, as over 20% of registered voters voted in favour, the proposals will still have to be debated in the National Assembly. The National Assembly rejected to legalize anything of the three questions. Despite the insufficiency of 0.2% (12,000 people) of the turnout for the referendum to be 51% and to have mandatory effect, the turnout was based only on number of valid votes, not on number of voters. Some sections could not serve all the voters in reasonable time and a number waited on the line and could not vote, other sections closed earlier than the appointed time(8 PM) and in some sections entire boxes with ballots were locked in the sections themselves to avoid their enumeration. According to the Electoral Commission more than 12,000 ballots for not having envelope were excluded from the turnout alone.

Results

Question	For		Against		None of the above		Invalid/ blank	Total votes	Registered voters	Turnout
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Two-round system for parliamentary elections	2,509,864	73.80	560,024	16.47	330,928	9.73	87,668	3,488,484	6,865,086	50.81
Compulsory voting	2,158,929	63.48	905,691	26.63	336,180	9.89	87,668	3,488,468
Political funding	2,516,791	74.02	523,759	15.40	359,778	10.58	87,668	3,487,996
Source: CIK