A referendum on the future of nuclear energy in Bulgaria has failed because of insufficient turnout, election authorities said Monday.
The turnout for Sunday's vote was 1.5 million of the 6.9 million registered voters, falling far short of the 60.2 per cent required for the result to be valid.
The referendum was initiated by the opposition Socialist Party, and voters were asked whether they supported the construction of a new nuclear power plant.
Its failure does not mean that Bulgaria will have to halt the expansion of nuclear plants. Both political camps support it, but are fighting over where to build new facilities.
The outcome could lead to either the revival of the project to build a new power plant at Belene or the expansion of the existing plant at Kozloduy.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government favours Kozloduy with Western partners, while the Socialist leader and former premier Sergey Stanishev insists that a Russian partner should complete Belene.
Kozloduy is the existing plant with two 1,000 megawatt generators. The government wants to replace the old reactors, built in the 1970s and shut down in the previous decade over security concerns.
The Socialists want to revive the Belene project, some 100 kilometres downstream from Kozloduy.
Bulgaria began working on Belene in the 1980s, before the Communist regime was toppled, but froze the work in the 1990s on environment concerns.
Both sides declared victory after the vote.
Bulgaria, a European Union member since 2007, will hold parliamentary elections in 2013.