According to the results of Bulgaria's early parliamentary elections, seven political forces to take seats in the parliament
Following the simultaneous snap general and European Parliament (EP) elections in Bulgaria on 9 June, seven political forces will enter the country's 240-member parliament, exceeding the 4 per cent threshold.
Citizens, who had to go to the polls for the sixth early election in three years due to political instability, showed less interest in these elections, which will determine Bulgaria's quota of 17 MEPs to be sent to the EP.
Only 2.1 million out of 6.5 million registered voters went to the polls in the elections held on 9 June. Although voting is compulsory according to the constitution, turnout remained at 33.4 per cent for the general election and 32.5 per cent for the EP elections.
Political leaders also said that they would wait for the final results to be announced after 2 days for their general assessments.
Which forces will enter parliament
According to non-final official data released by the Central Election Commission (CEC) based on 100 per cent counting of election protocols, seven political forces have passed the 4 per cent threshold to enter the 240-member Bulgarian Parliament.
The Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, came first with 24.70 per cent of the vote. However, GERB's representation in Parliament will not be enough for it to form a government on its own.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HÖH) party, which has a majority of Turks and Muslims, ranked second with 17.07 per cent of the votes. The party received a total of 366,562 votes in this election.
While HÖH ranked 3rd in the previous Bulgarian parliament with 36 deputies, HÖH, which received 66,500 votes from abroad in April 2023, received 46,495 votes in this election.
The situation of other forces entering parliament
The pro-European Union (EU) and pro-NATO alliance Continue Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) will take a seat in Parliament with 14.33 per cent of the vote.
The anti-EU and anti-NATO, pro-Russian Vizrajdane (Rebirth) party received 13.78 per cent of the vote.
The pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which continues the political tradition of the former communist party, won 7.06 per cent of the vote.
With 5.96 per cent of the vote, the party of the entertainer Slavi Trifonov, There is Such a People (ITN), will take a seat in parliament.
The biggest surprise of the elections was the Velichiye (Yücelik) party, which campaigned only in the virtual environment and was not well known. With 4.65 per cent of the vote, Velichiye was the last party to pass the 4 per cent threshold for entry into parliament. Observers note that Velichiye's political profile is similar to that of the nationalist and pro-Russian BSP and Vizrajdane parties, both of which have groups in the Parliament.
17 MEPs to go to the EP
After the EP elections, all 6 political forces will send deputies to the EP. According to the results, GERB party came first with 23.54 per cent of the votes. The HÖH party came second with 14.66 per cent and PP-DP came third with 14.44 per cent.
According to the forecasts, GERB will send 5 MPs to Europe, PP-DB, Vizrajdane and HÖH parties 3 each, BSP 2 and INT 1.
The CEC will announce the names of the 240 members of the Bulgarian Parliament and the 17 MEPs to be sent to the EP by 16 June.
Vote losers
In parallel with the low voter turnout, all political forces lost votes compared to previous election periods.
The GERB party, which received approximately 500 thousand votes in this election, lost 1 third of the votes compared to the previous early general election held in April 2023.
The votes of the PP-DB alliance decreased from 261,000 to 330. Hristo Ivanov, chairman of the Democratic Bulgaria (DB) party in the PP-DB alliance, resigned from his post.
