Bulgarians Say “Yes” to Belene Nuke

The national referendum on the development of nuclear energy projects in Bulgaria had a turnout of just twenty percent.

 Still, two-thirds of the 1,400,000 Bulgarians who went to the polling stations said “yes” to the future development of nuclear energy projects in the country and the issue of the construction of NPP Belene will now be debated in Plenary Hall.

For the first time in Bulgaria’s democratic history, the vote was not marred by corrupt practices such as vote buying or election tourism.

The turnout was also low in the regions with predominantly Muslim population, while 23% of the electorate of the ruling political party, GERB, voted for the construction of NPP Belene, despite the explicit instructions of PM Boyko Borissov.

Similarly, a large part of the electorate of Meglena Kouneva’s political formation Bulgaria for Citizens went to the polling stations in spite of her call to boycott the referendum, and even voted for Belene.

As it was expected, both the government and the opposition were pleased with the outcome of the referendum - the former pointed the low turnout as a sign of the people’s low interest in the development of nuclear energy projects in Bulgaria, while the latter said that it was a victory, even if not a landslide one.

Source: http://paper.standartnews.com/