At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Bulgaria

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Georgi PARVANOV
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Boyko BORISSOV
• Assembly: Bulgaria has a unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) with 240 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• The Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie), 209 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 31 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** There are 31 multi-member districts in the list tier. There is a national threshold of 4 percent. Each MMD is also a single-member district in the nominal tier. Each voter gets two votes. Candidates in the list tier may stand in a maximum of two districts. Candidates in the nominal tier may stand in one district only.

Main Candidates in the Second Round of the Presidential race:

• Rosen PLEVNELIEV
  • Party: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria / Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya (GERB)
• Ivaylo Georgiev KALFIN
  • Party: Bulgarian Socialist Party (NDSV) / Nacionalno dviženie za stabilnost i văzhod ((НДСВ))

Main Candidates in the First Round of the Presidential race:

• Rosen PLEVNELIEV
  • Party: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) / Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya
• Meglena Shtilianova KUNEVA
  • Party: National Movement for Stability and Progress / Nacionalno dviženie za stabilnost i văzhod (НДСВ)
• Ivaylo Georgiev KALFIN
  • Party: Bulgarian Socialist Party / Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya (BSP)
• Volen Nikolov SIDEROV
  • Party: National Union Attack / Natsionalen sayuz "Ataka" (Ataka)
• Rumen HRISTOV*****
  • Coalition: The Blue Coalition / Sinyata koalitsia
• Atanas SEMOV
  • Party: Order, Law and Justic / Red, zakonnost i spravedlivost (RZS)
• Krasimir KARAKACHANOV
  • Party: Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) – Bulgarian National Movement / VMRO – Balgarsko natsionalno dvizhenie (VMRO)
• Svetoslav VITKOV
  • Independent(s): Independent

***** The Blue Coalition comprises the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB).

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 7,093,635 (July 2011 est.)
• Registered Voters: 6,873,589 (October 2011 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 3,772,147 (2011)

·         Is Bulgaria a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Bulgaria ratified CEDAW: Yes (8 February 1982)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes 

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 50 (following the 2009 election)

·         Human Development Index Position: 59 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Low (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Bulgaria a signatory to CRPD: Yes (27 September 2007)

·         Has Bulgaria ratified CRPD: Yes (22 March 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 1,064,045 (est.)