On 3 June 2009 Deputy Speaker of Parliament Prof. Lyuben Kornezov held talks with the members of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Survey Mission, led by the ODIHR councilor Dru Haselope.

During the meeting, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker underscored that Bulgaria highly appreciates and takes active part in the activities of OSCE and its Parliamentary Assembly. He pointed out that this year the seventh general election since 1989 will take place in Bulgaria, while on June 7 the Bulgarian citizens will vote for the second time for Bulgarian members of the European Parliament.

Dru Haselope specified that the ODIHR Survey Mission to Bulgaria was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assess the conditions and level of preparedness for the forthcoming parliamentary elections. He underlined that the mission’s visit to Bulgaria takes place within the framework of ODIHR regular visits to countries of upcoming elections. On the mission’s agenda are meetings with representatives of political parties, civil society organizations and institutions.

The OSCE representatives expressed interest in the amendments to the elections-related laws.
Prof. Lyuben Kornezov highlighted that since 1990 the parliamentary vote in Bulgaria has been held on the proportional election system, however over the past several years a large part of the Bulgarian society has been insisting on the introduction of majority vote. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament explained that the adopted amendments to the Elections of Members of Parliament Act provide for setting 31 single-mandate constituencies in the country with one majority candidate each. He specified that the rest of M.P.s will be elected on the proportional system in 31 multi-mandate constituencies coinciding with the single-mandated.