As it became clear Tuesday, Bulgaria’s parliament has decided that on 25 October this year, together with local elections, a referendum is to be held, but with only one question - whether to introduce remote electronic voting.

Online voting would enable Bulgarian citizens worldwide to be able to fully participate in the electoral process. But there is something that has been debated these days in the public domain and may discourage votes – the Constitutional Court has ruled against the e-voting over the Internet. Only that's not true. Surely there is a decision №4 of 2011 the Constitutional Court declaring unconstitutional paragraph 11 of the then Electoral Code in force.

Prof. Drumeva Emilia, who was rapporteur for the Constitutional File #4, explains:

"With this ruling, the Court clearly states that electronic voting on the Internet is not unconstitutional because it exists in many countries worldwide. Which then led the CC to declare it unconstitutional? These are the specific components of the system, as it was formulated in paragraph 11 of the Electoral Act. What exactly is done, how the votes are collected, and whether in the event of error all votes in one pool get destroyed. Commenting on these details in the regulation, the Constitutional Court concludes that these specific regulations, and not electronic voting via the Internet in general, do not provide guarantees in two directions - the personal exercise of the right to vote and the protection of the secrecy of the vote. There was another reason for this decision – since it comes to voting over the Internet, then the whole set of regulations should be subject to the general rules of the now acting Electronic Communications Act. This law requires that the data from the Internet service providers should be retained for a longer time, and this conflicts with the secrecy of the vote, with the integrity of the information on a vote. So in 2011 the Constitutional Court concluded that electronic voting in its different varieties is an adequate opportunity to the modern realities that extends the democratic participation of Bulgarian citizens, but only if it efficiently guarantees the secrecy of the vote. From the standpoint of today, I will add that legislators need to make decisive steps in the direction of creating "electronic identity" of every Bulgarian citizen. Also, our attention should be directed to the specialists in information technologies as we expect them to develop a technology model to produce the desired guarantees. "

Here is the opinion given previously on the same subject by Nikolai Nedyalkov - Executive Director of Information Services:

"In terms of electronic voting there are several components that need to be respected. First, the technology and mechanism for the anonymity of the vote should be provided. Second, we have to avoid the repeated voting and to take into account only one vote. Third, there is a protective technological possibility to implement a mechanism whereby not be allowed to prove to a third party for whom we voted. This is a very important mechanism when it comes to vote purchasing. The fourth principle is in the direction of combining technological and organizational elements, so as to allow people who want to exercise their vote electronically to do it not just once. What does it mean? E-voting takes place between 4 and 10 days before the official date of the vote. During this period anyone can vote several times, taking into account only the last electronic voting. On the day of the elections, if they wish, voters can go to the ballot polls. Then the paper ballot only will be taken into account. When voting electronically, everyone gets on their computer or e-mail a special note attesting to their vote, but not for whom they voted. Upon completion of the election day, the Electoral commission published the database and anyone can check whether their vote was recorded. The mechanisms introduced do not allow pressure on the people. Each country implements electronic voting differently. At some places it is done with electronic signature, elsewhere it is done via electronic identity, third places via text messages. The leading factor is the legal framework of the state itself, its infrastructure and the way elections are organized." 

English Rossitsa Petcova