Elections in Bulgaria

Bulgaria elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term directly by the people. The National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) has 240 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. Bulgaria has a multi-party system, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each to form governments.

Parliamentary elections

Parliamentary elections have been held in Bulgaria since 1879. There was a period when partisan politics was banned from 1934 to 1944; in the wake of the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934 and the sequential personal rule of Tsar Boris III. There was also period of single party system between 1945 and 1989, during the People's Republic of Bulgaria, during which only candidates sanctioned by authorities could run. This, in practice, gave the Bulgarian Communist Party and its collaborators a monopoly on power.

Until 1945 there was no universal suffrage for the women. The table below show the elections since 1990, when the government became a democratic republic.

All elections since 1991 have had 240 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. The two elections that differed from this model was the 1990 Grand National Assembly election, where 400 representatives were elected: half by proportional representation and half by first-past-the-post voting. The other exception was the 2009 election when 209 representatives were elected by proportional representation and 31 through first past the post; seats corresponding to the provinces and the largest cities.

Recent elections

Bulgarian parliamentary elections 2021. Percentages of parties winning by region.

Main article: July 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election

There Is Such a People received the most votes, finishing around 15,000 votes ahead of GERB–SDS. It was the first time that GERB or a GERB-led coalition had not won the most votes or seats since the party's establishment in 2006. Four other parties (BSP for Bulgaria, Democratic Bulgaria, Movement for Rights and Freedom, and Stand Up! Mafia, Get Out!) also won seats. There Is Such a People performed well among young voters, with 37.4% of Generation Z supporting the party and 30.9% of voters aged 30–39. GERB–SDS received high support from voters aged 40–69, and BSP for Bulgaria received high support from voters older than 70.

International observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said freedoms were respected in the election.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	There Is Such a People	657,829	23.78	65	+14
	GERB–SDS	642,165	23.21	63	–12
	BSP for Bulgaria	365,695	13.22	36	–7
	Democratic Bulgaria	345,331	12.48	34	+7
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	292,514	10.57	29	–1
	Stand Up! Mafia, Get Out!	136,885	4.95	13	–1
	Bulgarian Patriots	85,795	3.10	0	0
	Revival	82,147	2.97	0	0
	Bulgarian Summer	49,833	1.80	0	New
	Attack	12,585	0.45	0	0
	Left Union for a Clean and Holy Republic	10,309	0.37	0	New
	Republicans for Bulgaria	8,546	0.31	0	0
	National Association of the Right	7,872	0.28	0	New
	People's Voice	4,741	0.17	0	0
	Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy	4,690	0.17	0	0
	Freedom	4,304	0.16	0	New
	Bulgaria of Work and Reason	3,948	0.14	0	New
	Together Movement for Change	3,445	0.12	0	0
	MIR	3,427	0.12	0	New
	Green Party of Bulgaria	3,257	0.12	0	0
	Direct Democracy	3,143	0.11	0	0
	Brigade	2,187	0.08	0	New
	Rise	862	0.03	0	New
	Independents	142	0.01	0	0
None of the above		35,201	1.27	–	–
Total		2,766,853	100.00	240	0
Valid votes		2,766,853	99.66
Invalid/blank votes		9,342	0.34
Total votes		2,776,195	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,873,784	40.39
Source: CIK, IFES

Presidential election

Presidential elections have been held since 1992. From 1996 onwards, presidential elections have been held every five years.

Main article: 2016 Bulgarian presidential election

Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rumen Radev	Iliana Iotova	Independent (Bulgarian Socialist Party)	973,754	25.44	2,063,032	59.37
	Tsetska Tsacheva	Plamen Manushev	GERB	840,635	21.96	1,256,485	36.16
	Krasimir Karakachanov	Yavor Notev	United Patriots	573,016	14.97
	Veselin Mareshki	Petar Petrov	Independent	427,660	11.17
	Plamen Oresharski	Danail Papazov	Independent	253,726	6.63
	Traycho Traykov	Sabi Sabev	Reformist Bloc	224,734	5.87
	Ivailo Kalfin	Lyubomir Halachev	Alternative for Bulgarian Revival	125,531	3.28
	Tatyana Doncheva	Mincho Spasov	Movement 21–NDSV	69,372	1.81
	George Ganchev	Kolyo Paramov	Christian Social Union	27,928	0.73
	Velizar Enchev	Bilyana Grancharova	Movement for Radical Change Bulgarian Spring	18,213	0.48
	Dimitar Marinov	Radoslav Petrov	Bulgarian National Unification	14,974	0.39
	Rumen Galabinov	Veska Voleva	Independent	10,286	0.27
	Plamen Paskov	Svetozar Saev	Independent	10,103	0.26
	Aleksandar Tomov	Radoslav Radoslavov	Bulgarian Socialdemocratic-Euroleft	9,513	0.25
	Gospodin Tonev	Andrey Andreev	Bulgarian Democratic Community	6,855	0.18
	Kemil Ramadan	Momchil Dobrev	Balkanic Democratic League	6,089	0.16
	Kamen Popov	Georgi Nedelchev	Independent	5,212	0.14
	Diana Dimitrova	Gabriel Gerasimov	Independent	4,362	0.11
	Nikolay Banev	Sali Ibrayim	Independent	4,196	0.11
	Yordanka Koleva	Veselin Hristov	Independent	4,182	0.11
	Biser Milanov	Krasimir Nastev	Independent	3,215	0.08
None of the above				214,094	5.59	155,411	4.47
Total				3,827,650	100.00	3,474,928	100.00
Valid votes				3,827,650	96.96	3,474,928	98.14
Invalid/blank votes				119,925	3.04	66,036	1.86
Total votes				3,947,575	100.00	3,540,964	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				7,014,723	56.28	7,020,119	50.44
Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria

European Parliament elections

Main article: European Parliament elections in Bulgaria

Referendums

Four nationwide referendums have been held in Bulgaria since it gained its De Facto independence in 1878:

• On 19 November 1922 the question was if criminals from the three previous wars were to be prosecuted;
• On 8 September 1946 the question was if Bulgaria was to remain a monarchy to become a republic;
• On 16 May 1971 the nation's approval of a new constitution was asked;
• On 27 January 2013 the question was if Bulgaria should develop its nuclear power by building a new nuclear power plant.
• On 25 October 2015 the question was if Bulgaria should introduce electronic voting.
• On 6 November 2016 voters were asked three questions. The questions were: Whether they supported limiting public funding of political parties; the introduction of compulsory voting in elections and referendums; and changing the electoral system for the National Assembly to the two-round system.

Several regional referendums have been held as well.

Local elections

Recent elections

Main article: 2019 Bulgarian local elections

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system

External links

• Blog in English about the Bulgarian elections in 2009
• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• Ms Lyubka Savkova's Bulgarian Party Politics and Public Opinion Research Website hosted by the University of Sussex
• Parties and Elections
• Народно събрание на Република България/National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria
• Bulgarian News Agency
• Blog in English about the Bulgarian elections in 2009
• NSD: European Election Database - Bulgaria publishes regional level election data; allows for comparisons of election results, 1990-2009