Georgi Parvanov: People born outside Bulgaria should be allowed to run for the Presidential post

"The Constitution should be amended so as to allow people, who were born outside the country, to run for president," Head of State Georgi Parvanov said in the town of Straldja yesterday. His initiative comes a day after BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) leader Sergey Stanishev said that he would run for president if GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) repealed the constitutional provisions that prohibit such a nomination.

Paragraph 2 of Art. 93 of the Constitution stipulates that "a Bulgarian citizen by birth, who has turned 40 years of age, who is eligible for election to the National Assembly and has lived in the country for the last five years, can be elected President”. As known, Stanishev was born in the Ukrainian city of Kherson and was a Soviet citizen by birth who received Bulgarian citizenship in 1996.

According to President Parvanov, this constitutional restriction is not justified since the drafting of the county’s Basic Law was influenced by considerations connected to specific persons. However, the Head of State’s recommendation concerns the period after his mandate expires. According to Parvanov, "it is now evident that the nominations should be made within the framework of the existing constitutional provisions in order not to deal with something unachievable in the short time, remaining to the presidential elections".

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