Politics of Bulgaria
Constitution 1879 1947 1971 1991
Presidency President (list) Rumen Radev Vice President Iliana Iotova
Executive Legislative Government Prime Minister (list) Nikolay Denkov National Assembly Speaker: Rosen Zhelyazkov
Law Judiciary Nationality law Human rights Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Administrative Court Supreme Court of Cassation Office of the General Prosecutor
Major political parties PP GERB DPS Bulgarian Socialist Party Democratic Bulgaria Revival Bulgarian Rise
Recent elections Presidential: 2011 2016 2021 Parliamentary: 2022 2023 next European: 2014 2019 2024
Administrative divisions Provinces (oblasti) Municipalities (obshtini)
Foreign relations 2007 EU enlargement Kristalina Georgieva Politics of the European Union
Bulgaria portal Other countries
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Bulgaria elects on the national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term directly by the people. The National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) has 240 members elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. Bulgaria has a multi-party system in which often no one party has a chance of gaining power alone and parties must work with each to form governments.

Parliamentary elections

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 2 April 2023 to elect members of the National Assembly. Parliamentary elections have been held in Bulgaria since 1879. There was a period when partisan politics was banned from 1934 to 1944; in the wake of the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934 and the sequential personal rule of Tsar Boris III. There was also period of single party system between 1945 and 1989, during the People's Republic of Bulgaria, during which only candidates sanctioned by authorities could run. This, in practice, gave the Bulgarian Communist Party and its collaborators a monopoly on power.

Until 1945 there was no universal suffrage for the women. The table below show the elections since 1990, when the government became a democratic republic.

All elections since 1991 have had 240 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. The two elections that differed from this model was the 1990 Grand National Assembly election, where 400 representatives were elected: half by proportional representation and half by first-past-the-post voting. The other exception was the 2009 election when 209 representatives were elected by proportional representation and 31 through first past the post; seats corresponding to the provinces and the largest cities.

Parliamentary election results

Recent elections

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	GERB–SDS	634,627	24.48	67	+8
	We Continue the Change	506,099	19.52	53	–14
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	344,512	13.29	36	+2
	Revival	254,952	9.83	27	+14
	BSP for Bulgaria	232,958	8.98	25	–1
	Democratic Bulgaria	186,528	7.19	20	+4
	Bulgarian Rise	115,872	4.47	12	+12
	There Is Such a People	96,071	3.71	0	–25
	Stand Up.BG	25,207	0.97	0	0
	IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement	20,177	0.78	0	0
	Movement of Independent Candidates	10,324	0.40	0	New
	A Just Bulgaria (OSD–PDS–KOY)	9,124	0.35	0	New
	Attack	7,593	0.29	0	0
	Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland	6,533	0.25	0	0
	People's Voice	6,197	0.24	0	0
	Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy	5,874	0.23	0	0
	Bulgarian Social Democracy – EuroLeft	5,343	0.21	0	0
	Coalition for You Bulgaria	5,097	0.20	0	New
	Conservative Union of the Right	5,028	0.19	0	0
	Morality, Initiative and Patriotism	4,536	0.17	0	0
	Direct Democracy	4,061	0.16	0	0
	Unity National Movement	4,039	0.16	0	New
	National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria	3,520	0.14	0	0
	Bulgaria of Labor and Reason	2,636	0.10	0	New
	People's Party "Truth and Only the Truth"	2,522	0.10	0	New
	Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy	1,849	0.07	0	0
	Pravoto	1,757	0.07	0	0
	Bulgarian National Unification	1,671	0.06	0	0
	Independents	564	0.02	0	0
None of the above		87,635	3.38	–	–
Total		2,592,906	100.00	240	0
Valid votes		2,592,906	99.65
Invalid/blank votes		9,042	0.35
Total votes		2,601,948	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,620,820	39.30
Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria

Presidential election

Presidential elections have been held since 1992. From 1996 onwards, presidential elections have been held every five years.

European Parliament elections

Past European Parliament elections since 2007

• 2007 European Parliament election in Bulgaria
• 2009 European Parliament election in Bulgaria
• 2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria
• 2019 European Parliament election in Bulgaria

Referendums

Four nationwide referendums have been held in Bulgaria since it gained its De Facto independence in 1878:

• On 19 November 1922 the question was if criminals from the three previous wars were to be prosecuted;^[1]
• On 8 September 1946 the question was if Bulgaria was to remain a monarchy to become a republic;^[2]
• On 16 May 1971 the nation's approval of a new constitution was asked;^[3]
• On 27 January 2013 the question was if Bulgaria should develop its nuclear power by building a new nuclear power plant.^[4][5]
• On 25 October 2015 the question was if Bulgaria should introduce electronic voting.
• On 6 November 2016 voters were asked three questions. The questions were: Whether they supported limiting public funding of political parties; the introduction of compulsory voting in elections and referendums; and changing the electoral system for the National Assembly to the two-round system.

Several regional referendums have been held as well.

Local elections

Recent elections