Between
25% and 35% of Bulgaria's six million adults plan to vote in the
referendum on the future of the country's nuclear energy scheduled for
January 27, a poll shows.
The referendum's threshold for validity is turnout in the previous parliamentary elections, i.e. 4.3 million people.
The question will be worded as follows:
"Should we develop nuclear energy in the Republic of Bulgaria by
building a new nuclear plant?".
According to a poll by Alpha Research
agency, some 62% of the citizens would vote in favour of the
construction of a new power plant and 38% will vote against.
The question was formulated by the
parliamentary group of the ruling centre-right party GERB after in 2012
the Bulgarian Socialist Party initiated a sign-in campaign in support of
a referendum with a question worded "Should the nuclear power industry
in Bulgaria develop through the construction of a nuclear power plant at
the Belene site?"
A total of 543,639 signatures were collected during the campaign, above the 500,000 required by law.
In 2012, the government decided to
abandon the project to build a nuclear power plant near the Danubian
town of Belene and instead approved plans to increase the capacity of
Bulgaria's existing nuclear station in Kozloduy.
(hbcbg.com)