Bulgarian elections 2014: Only 16 candidate MPs take up Mensa offer of IQ test
A total of 5232 people are standing as candidates in Bulgaria’s October 5 2014 early parliamentary elections – but only 16 have taken up the offer from Mensa for a free IQ test.
In early August, Mensa Bulgaria issued an open invitation to all parties and coalitions for all candidates to undergo IQ tests, with the customary fee waived on condition that the would-be MPs sign in advance giving permission for the results to be made public.
Membership of Mensa is open to persons who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised.
Mensa was founded in the UK in 1946 and the Bulgarian organisation became a member of Mensa International in 1998.
On September 5, in an open letter to political parties and coalition, Mensa Bulgaria board chairman Hristo Radkov noted that the day marked the official start of the campaign period but by that date, no party had contacted Mensa to test their candidates.
“Maybe you have found another way to determine who are the more worthy candidates for the National Assembly,” Radkov said.
Referring to preferential voting, which enables Bulgarian voters to rearrange candidates’ places on ballot papers to push their candidate of choice further up, Radkov said, “we at Mensa Bulgaria believe that it is good to know about every candidate, not only their education and experience, but also their intellectual potential”.
“This would help the Bulgarian people, and in particular we at Mensa Bulgaria, to make more informed choices about the lawmakers in the 43rd National Assembly.”
However, on September 23, Nova Televizia reported that 16 candidate MPs, from two electoral lists (not identified) had responded to the call to take the IQ tests.
Mensa reminded candidate MPs that the organisation’s offer remained open ahead of the October 5 elections.
(Image: artM/freeimages.com)
