Bulgaria
Parliamentary Elections
Electoral system
- Unicameral parliament
- Chamber name: National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie)
- Members: 240
- Term: 4 years
- Constituencies: since 1991: 31 multi-member constituencies (seats according to population). 1990: 28.
- Voting system: 1990: Mixed-member system. 400 seats were distributed. 200 seats were elected by double ballot system in single-member districts, 200 by PR (D’Hondt) in 28 districts. There was only one national tier for the PR seats with a 4% threshold on the district level.
Since 1991: 31 members are elected using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system; 209 members are elected under the proportional representation (PR) system using the closed party list. These seats are distributed according to the d'Hondt method. Only parties and coalitions that obtain at least 4 per cent of the nationwide popular vote are entitled to parliamentary representation. - Voter requirements: 18 years of age; Bulgarian citizenship.
- Voting is not compulsory.
Latest elections
Election results 1994-2009, main parties
On 28 April, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria called parliamentary elections for 5 July, 2009, one month after the 7 June European Parliament elections. These were the first parliamentary elections after Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union (EU) in 2007. Following the April 2009 amendments to the Election Law, the elections were held according to a new mixed electoral system: 31 Members of Parliament (MPs) were elected by a majoritarian (first-past-the-post) system and 209 MPs by proportional representation.
The centre-right opposition party, GERB, led by Sofia Mayor Boiko Borisov won the election by a wide margin. With 39.72 percent of the votes, GERB won with a 22 percent margin ahead of the governing socialist coalition (KB). In the first election since joining the EU two years ago, the pattern of voting governments out of office (doing so at each general election for the past 19 years) was repeated with Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev's Socialists winning only 17.70% of the votes.
The ethnic Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), a junior coalition partner in the outgoing government, came third with 14.45 percent and the ultra-nationalist ATAKA party fourth, with 9.37 percent. Mr Borisov's preferred coalition partner, the Blue Coalition (Siniata), won 6.76 percent, followed by the Order, Lawfulness, Justice party (RZS) with 4.13 percent.
Sources
BBC News: Bulgaria opposition wins election.
Central Election Commission, Election results.
OSCE (The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe): Statement of preliminary findings and conclusions on the Limited Election Observation Mission to observe the 5 July 2009 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria.
Birch, Sarah, Frances Millard, Marina Popescu and Kieran Williams, 2002. Embodying democracy: electoral system design in post-communist Europe. Palgrave Machmillan: New York.
Government (Bulgaria), in Europa World online. London, Routledge. University of Bergen. Retrieved 29 October 2009 from http://www.europaworld.com/entry/bg.is.44
Inter-Parliamentary Union, PARLINE database on national parliaments
Constituency-Level Elections Archive (CLEA): country descriptions.
