Republic of Bulgaria: National Assembly, 26 March 2017 

At stake in this election: 

• 240 seats in the National Assembly

Note on the results: Only parties which cleared the 4% threshold to win seats in parliament are listed in results

Description of government structure: 

• Chief of State:  President Rumen RADEV (22 January 2017)
• Head of Government:  Interim Prime Minister Ognyan GERDZHIKOV[1]
• 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.
• Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) 240 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.
  •  Bulgaria is divided into 31 multi-member districts, with each district having between 4 and 16 representatives based on population. Political parties and coalitions must receive at least 4 percent of valid votes at the national level to receive a seat. Due to 4% stipulation, many smaller parties register and run as coalitions.

Last Election: 

• In the 2014 elections, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria won the majority with 84 seats. The Bulgarian Socialist Party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and the Reformist Bloc won 39, 38, and 23 seats respectively. Four other parties won between 10 and 20 seats each.
• The next legislative elections were scheduled for 2018. However, Prime Minister Boyko BORISOV vowed to resign if his party's candidate, former National Assembly chairperson Tsetska TSACHEVA lost the presidential election in 2016. TSACHEVA was defeated by BSP candidate Rumen RADEV and Prime Minister BORISOV resigned on 16 November 2016. The National Assembly failed to form a new government, forcing incumbent President PLEVNELIEV to dissolve the Assembly.

Main candidates in the election: 

• Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) / Граждани за европейско развитие на България
  • Leader: Boyko BORISOV
  • Seats won in last election:  84
• BSP Bulgaria (BSP, AZ, CPB, New Dawn) / Коалиция за България, Koalitsiya za Bulgaria
  • Leader: Kornelia Ninova PETROVA
  • Seats won in last election:  39
• Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) / Движение за права и свободи (ДПС), Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi (DPS)
  • Leader: Mustafa KARADAYA
  • Seats won in last election:   38
• Reformist Bloc (BAPU, BCM, DSB, PPFD, UDF) / Реформаторски блок
  • Leader: [Name] 
  • Seats won in last election:   23
• Patriotic Front (NFSB, IMRO) / Патриотичен фронт
  • Leader: Krasimir KARAKACHANOV, Valeri SIMEONOV
  • Seats won in last election:   19
• CP Bulgaria without Censorship / България без цензура, Balgariya bez tsenzura 
  • Leader: Nikolai Tikhomirov BAREKOV
  • Seats won in last election:   15
• United Patriots (NFSB, Ataka, VMRO) / Атака
  • Leader: Valeri SIMEONOV, Volen SIDEROV, Krasimir Donchev KARAKACHANOV
  • Seats won in last election:   11
• Coalition for Bulgarian Revival (ABV, Movement 21) / Алтернатива за българско възраждане, Alternativa za balgarsko vazrazhdane
  • Leader: Konstantin Vasilev PRODANOV, Tatyana Doncheva TOTEVA
  • Seats won in last election:   11

*Parties and coalitions listed who won seats in the 2014 elections. In total 18 parties and 9 coalitions are running.

Population and number of registered voters: 

• Population:  7,144,653 (July 2016)
• Registered Voters:   6,858,304 (2014)

Gender Data: 

• Female Population:  3,677,429 (July 2015)
• 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: 49
• 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:  1,078,034[2]