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 often no one party 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: 2021 Bulgarian general election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	We Continue the Change	673,170	25.32	67	New
	GERB–SDS	596,456	22.44	59	–4
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	341,000	12.83	34	+5
	BSP for Bulgaria	267,817	10.07	26	–10
	There Is Such a People	249,743	9.39	25	–40
	Democratic Bulgaria	166,968	6.28	16	–18
	Revival	127,568	4.80	13	+13
	Stand Up.BG! We are coming!	60,055	2.26	0	–13
	IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement	28,322	1.07	0	0
	Bulgarian Social Democratic Party–EuroLeft	13,710	0.52	0	0
	Attack	12,153	0.46	0	0
	Society for a New Bulgaria	11,627	0.44	0	New
	People's Voice	11,546	0.43	0	0
	National Union of the Right	11,239	0.42	0	0
	Patriotic Front	8,584	0.32	0	0
	Volya Movement	7,067	0.27	0	0
	Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland	6,803	0.26	0	0
	Pravoto	6,712	0.25	0	New
	Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy	5,894	0.22	0	New
	Morality, Initiative and Patriotism	3,939	0.15	0	0
	Green Party	2,968	0.11	0	0
	Bulgarian National Unification	2,468	0.09	0	0
	Prosperity-Unification-Building	1,723	0.06	0	New
	Bulgarian Progressive Line	1,498	0.06	0	0
	Direct Democracy	1,341	0.05	0	0
	Brigade	1,151	0.04	0	0
	Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy	1,099	0.04	0	0
	Independents	182	0.01	0	0
None of the above		35,745	1.34	–	–
Total		2,658,548	100.00	240	0
Valid votes		2,658,548	99.58
Invalid/blank votes		11,315	0.42
Total votes		2,669,863	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,946,852	38.43
Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria

Presidential election

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

Main article: 2021 Bulgarian general election

Candidate		Running mate	Party	First round		Second round
				Votes	%	Votes	%
	Rumen Radev	Iliana Iotova	Independent (BSPzB, PP, ITN, IBG-NI)	1,322,385	49.42	1,539,650	66.72
	Anastas Gerdzhikov	Nevyana Miteva	Independent (GERB–SDS)	610,862	22.83	733,791	31.80
	Mustafa Karadayi	Iskra Mihaylova	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	309,681	11.57
	Kostadin Kostadinov	Elena Guncheva	Revival	104,832	3.92
	Lozan Panov	Maria Kasimova	Independent (Democratic Bulgaria)	98,488	3.68
	Luna Yordanova	Iglena Ilieva	Independent	21,733	0.81
	Volen Siderov	Magdalena Tasheva	Attack	14,792	0.55
	Svetoslav Vitkov	Veselin Belokonski	People's Voice	13,972	0.52
	Milen Mihov	Mariya Tsvetkova	IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement	13,376	0.50
	Rosen Milenov	Ivan Ivanov	Independent	12,644	0.47
	Goran Blagoev	Ivelina Georgieva	Republicans for Bulgaria	12,323	0.46
	Veselin Mareshki	Polina Tsankova	Volya Movement	10,536	0.39
	Valeri Simeonov	Tsvetan Manchev	Patriotic Front	8,568	0.32
	Nikolay Malinov	Svetlana Koseva	Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland	8,213	0.31
	Tsveta Kirilova	Georgi Tutanov	Independent	7,706	0.29
	Aleksandar Tomov	Lachezar Avramov	Bulgarian Social Democratic Party–EuroLeft	7,235	0.27
	Boyan Rasate	Elena Vatashka	Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy	6,798	0.25
	Marina Malcheva	Savina Lukanova	Independent	6,315	0.24
	Zhelyo Zhelev	Kalin Krulev	Society for a New Bulgaria	6,154	0.23
	Blagoy Petrevski	Sevina Hadjiyska	Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy	5,518	0.21
	Yolo Denev	Mario Filev	Independent	5,394	0.20
	Maria Koleva	Gancho Popov	Pravoto	4,666	0.17
	Georgi Georgiev-Goti	Stoyan Tsvetkov	Bulgarian National Unification	2,958	0.11
None of the above				60,786	2.27	34,169	1.48
Total				2,675,935	100.00	2,307,610	100.00
Valid votes				2,675,935	99.65	2,307,610	99.83
Invalid/blank votes				9,487	0.35	3,909	0.17
Total votes				2,685,422	100.00	2,311,519	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				6,949,938	38.64	6,868,737	33.65
Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (first round), Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (second round)

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