2023 Bulgarian local elections
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Local elections in Bulgaria were held on 29 October 2023.[1] Mayors and municipal councillors across the country were elected.[2]
Electoral system[edit]
The elections to Bulgaria's municipal councils are conducted via proportional representation with an open list preferential voting system.
The mayoral elections take place within the context of a majoritarian two-round system. The first round of the elections will be held on 29 October. If no candidate in a given constituency manages to gain 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held for that constituency in the second round on 5 November.[3]
Voting is officially mandatory, but in practice there is no punishment for failing to vote and the law itself isn't strictly enforced.[4]
Voters further have the option to vote against all proposed candidates.[5]
Contesting parties[edit]
Local parties & coalitions[edit]
| Name | Location | Ideology | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader(s) | |||||
| Unification for Plovdiv | Bulgarian Cause | Plovdiv | Local politics | Georgi Tityukov | |
| New Leaders | Plovdiv | Local politics Direct Democracy | |||
| RzSR | Development for Septemvri and the Region | Septemvri | Local politics | Radoslav Lyutakov | |
| SzP | Union for Plovdiv | Plovdiv | Local politics Liberal conservatism |
Yevelin Paraskov Veselin Kozarev | |
| BzR | Future of the Motherland | Stara Zagora | Local politics | Stanislav Popov | |
| DzPP | Movement for the Prosperity of Pernik | Pernik | Local politics | Stanislav Vladimirov | |
| SS | Spasi Sofia | Sofia | Local politics Anti-corruption |
Boris Bonev | |
| MORE | More | Nesebar | Local politics Rural interests |
Peycho Kolev | |
Mayorship of Sofia[edit]
The election for the position of Mayor of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital and largest city, is expected to be hotly contested and will result in a new mayor being elected, as incumbent mayor Yordanka Fandakova from GERB has announced she will not seek re-election.
Opinion polls for Mayor of Sofia
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample | Vasil Terziev | Anton Hekimyan | Dean Nikolov | Vanya Grigorova | Vili Lilkov | Others | None of the above |
Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PP | DB | SS | GERB | SDS | Revival | BSP | Levitsata! | |||||||
| ЕСТАТ | 29.09-9.10 2023 | 800 | 27.8 | 18.7 | 20.6 | 6.4 | 7.2 | |||||||
| CAM | 21–25 Jul 2023 | 1,212 | 33.4 | 22.7 | 12.0 | 10.6 | 4.8 | 7.9 | 2.7 | 10.7 | ||||
Results[edit]
First round[edit]
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2023) |
According to Central Election Commission the number of people who voted on 29 October totaled 2,713,979 or 44.94% of eligible voters. The turnout was 49.76% in the 2019 local elections. The invalid ballots in the 29 October, 2023 elections totaled over half a million, including 412,711 ballots for municipal councilors, 94,195 for municipality mayor (down from 128,204 in 2019) and 34,235 for mayoralty mayor.[6]
In general, GERB had the strongest showing throughout the country, although the party failed to make it to the second round in the capital.[7]
Second round[edit]
Overall, GERB won 11 regional towns, PP–DB won four, and the Bulgarian Socialist party won three. Of the largest four cities, PP-DB won in the capital (Sofia) and Varna while GERB won in Plovdiv and Burgas.[8]
Sofia[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ staff, The Sofia Globe (2023-07-31). "Bulgaria to hold 2023 municipal and mayoral elections on October 29". The Sofia Globe. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- ^ "Bulgaria's President set a Date for this year's Local Elections - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". www.novinite.com. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- ^ "Местни избори 2019: Права и задължения". bgnes. 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "Конституционният съд отмени санкцията за задължителното гласуване - България". dariknews.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Централна избирателна комисия - Често Задавани Въпроси". www.cik.bg. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ https://www.bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/560753-over-2-7-million-voters-and-half-million-invalid-ballots-in-oct-29-elections
- ^ Service, RFE/RL's Bulgarian. "Pro-West Grouping Looks Set To Win Sofia Mayoral Race, While GERB Strong Elsewhere". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
- ^ "BSP may challenge Sofia mayoral election results in court". bnr.bg. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
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