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| Bulgaria |
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Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 July 2009.[1][2] The decisive winner of the elections was Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (or GERB) party, led by Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov. GERB amassed more votes than the members of the then-ruling centre-left coalition combined and is to head a centre-right government.
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The 2009 elections saw the debut of a parallel voting system with a lesser plurality vote element. 209 of the 240 parliament seats were distributed according to the proportional system, while the remaining 31 (the number of voting constituencies in Bulgaria) were allocated for First Past the Post.[3]
The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party wanted to amend the electoral law, increasing state subsidies for political parties threefold (the reason for doing this would be making campaign financing more transparent, they claim), requiring registration in at least two-thirds of all electoral districts (thus eliminating most marginal parties).[4]
An electoral reform was passed in April 2009 with the votes of the BSP, the DPS, Ataka and Order, Law and Justice. It would raise the election threshold for alliances from 4% to 8% (which was widely seen as a move against the opposition electoral alliance of DSB and SDS, which was polling around 7.3% at that time) and established that 31 of the 240 seats would be elected by majority vote.[5][6] President Georgi Parvanov returned the law to parliament for reconsideration, but as the parties had no plans to amend it and as he could only return the law once, he had to sign it before the election. After the law had been passed, the provision raising the electoral threshold was struck down by the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria.[7]
The Blue Coalition was denied registration for the election by the Central Election Commission on 28 May 2009 due to a leadership struggle in the UDF, one of the two constituent parties. The Blue Coalition announced it would appeal the ruling.[8] On 29 May 2009, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the CEC's decision, allowing the Blue Coalition to contest the election.[9]
The elections were decisively won by Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov's GERB party, which gained 39.72% of the proportional vote and 26 of the 31 majority vote parliament seats. The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party-headed Coalition for Bulgaria gathered 17.70% but no majority vote seats, while the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms, also in power until the election, amassed 14.45% and won the remaining five majority vote seats in the National Assembly of Bulgaria. Nationalist party Ataka came fourth with 9.36% of the proportional vote, followed by the conservative Blue Coalition with 6.76% and the conservative Order, Law and Justice, whose tally was at 4.13%. Parties such as LIDER and Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha's once -ruling NDSV did not cross the 4% threshold and won no seats.[10][11] The voter turnout of 60.20%[12] was perceived as high, but was not unexpected.[13]
As a result of the election, Bulgaria is expected to be governed by a centre-right coalition dominated by GERB, with Boyko Borisov as Prime Minister. BSP and DPS, the leading members of the former centre-left ruling coalition, are to remain in opposition.[14][15] Due to the party's failure in the elections, not electing a single member of parliament, former Tsar and more recently Prime Minister resigned as NDSV leader on 6 July.[16] While Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev took the responsibility for the socialists' electoral failure, he did not resign as party leader and is to lead the party in opposition.[17]
Parties standing in the election included:[18]
| Source | Date | Turnout | GERB | BSP | DPS | Ataka | BC | NDSV | Lider | RZS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCIOM | 3 July | 55 | 29-32 | 20-22 | 13-14 | 9-11 | 8-9 | 5-5.5 | 5-5.5 | 4 | [19] |
| Alpha Research | 1 July | 56 | 33.9 | 19.5 | 14.1 | 9 | 8.1 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.1 | [20] |
| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria | 1,678,641 | 39.72 | new | 116 | new | |
| Coalition for Bulgaria | 748,147 | 17.70 | −13.3 | 40 | −42 | |
| Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 610,521 | 14.45 | +1.7 | 38 | +4 | |
| National Union Attack | 395,733 | 9.36 | +1.2 | 21 | ±0 | |
| Blue Coalition | 285,662 | 6.76 | −7.3 | 15 | −22 | |
| Order, Law and Justice | 174,582 | 4.13 | new | 10 | new | |
| Lider | 137,795 | 3.26 | new | — | — | |
| National Movement for Stability and Progress | 127,470 | 3.02 | −16.9 | — | −53 | |
| The Greens | 21,841 | 0.52 | new | — | — | |
| For the Homeland | 11,524 | 0.27 | — | — | — | |
| Bulgarian Left Coalition | 8,762 | 0.21 | — | — | — | |
| Union of the Patriotic Forces | 6,426 | 0.15 | — | — | — | |
| Social Democrats | 5,004 | 0.12 | — | — | — | |
| Bulgarian New Democracy | 3,813 | 0.09 | — | — | — | |
| The Other Bulgaria | 3,455 | 0.08 | — | — | — | |
| Party of the Liberal Alternative and Peace | 2,828 | 0.07 | — | — | — | |
| Union of the Bulgarian Patriots | 2,175 | 0.05 | — | — | — | |
| National Movement for the Salvation of the Fatherland | 1,874 | 0.04 | — | — | — | |
| Total valid votes | 4,226,194 | 100.00 | — | 240 | — | |
| Invalid votes | 97,387 | 2.25 | — | — | — | |
| Votes cast (turnout: 60.20%) | 4,323,581 | 100.00 | — | — | — | |
| Registred voters | 7,129,965 | — | — | — | — | |
| Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria | ||||||
The Hare-Niemeyer method is used to allocate the number of seats to parties on the provincial level.[21]
There are 31 constituencies corresponding to the 28 Provinces of Bulgaria with an additional 3 reserved for the most populated cities of Sofia and Plovdiv.
The following table presents the summary of the majoritarian vote in Bulgaria:
| Party | Seats | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria | 26 | ||
| Coalition for Bulgaria | 0 | ||
| Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 5 | ||
| National Union Attack | 0 | ||
| National Movement for Stability and Progress | 0 | ||
| Blue Coalition | 0 | ||
| Lider (Bulgaria) | 0 | ||
| Order, Law and Justice | 0 | ||
| Others | 0 | ||
| Total | 31 | — | |
The elected majoritarian candidates are elected through first past the post method.
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