# Elections in Bulgaria

Bulgaria elects a head of state—the president—and a legislature on a national level. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people directly. 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 usually no party receives a required majority and parties have to collaborate to form governments, generally via confidence and supply or coalition agreements.

## Parliamentary elections

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.
The latest parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 27 October 2024.

## Parliamentary election results

Turnout :
| 1986 | 1990 | 1991 | 1994 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | 2009 | 2013 | 2014 | 2017 | April 2021 | July 2021 | Nov 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| 99.92% | 90.78% | 83.87% | 75.23% | 58.87% | 66.63% | 55.76% | 60.64% | 52.47% | 49.51% | 52.57% | 49.1% | 40.39% | 38.64% | 39.30% | 40.63% | 33.4% |

### Recent elections

The results showed that no party attained a majority in the National Assembly, with GERB attaining a plurality of seats. Turnout was 34.4 percent, the lowest since the end of communist rule in 1989.
| | GERB–SDS | 530,658 | 23.99 | 68 | −1 |
| | Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 366,310 | 16.56 | 47 | +11 |
| | We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria | 307,849 | 13.92 | 39 | −25 |
| | Revival | 295,915 | 13.38 | 38 | +1 |
| | BSP for Bulgaria | 151,560 | 6.85 | 19 | −4 |
| | There is Such a People | 128,007 | 5.79 | 16 | +5 |
| | Greatness | 99,862 | 4.52 | 13 | New |
| | Morality, Unity, Honour | 63,992 | 2.89 | 0 | New |
| | Blue Bulgaria | 33,613 | 1.52 | 0 | New |
| | Solidary Bulgaria | 31,476 | 1.42 | 0 | New |
| | Center | 25,664 | 1.16 | 0 | New |
| | VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement | 21,272 | 0.96 | 0 | 0 |
| | The Left! | 15,175 | 0.69 | 0 | 0 |
| | Bulgarian Rise | 12,322 | 0.56 | 0 | 0 |
| | Green Movement | 9,324 | 0.42 | 0 | 0 |
| | People's Voice | 6,560 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 |
| | We Are Coming | 5,939 | 0.27 | 0 | New |
| | Party of the Greens [bg] | 5,494 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 |
| | Direct democracy [bg] | 5,207 | 0.24 | 0 | 0 |
| | Unification | 5,206 | 0.24 | 0 | New |
| | We the Citizens | 4,662 | 0.21 | 0 | New |
| | Bulgarian Voice | 3,378 | 0.15 | 0 | New |
| | Citizens Bloc | 3,003 | 0.14 | 0 | New |
| | People's Party "Truth and Only the Truth" [bg] | 2,483 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | Neutral Bulgaria | 2,462 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | Rose Coalition | 2,206 | 0.10 | 0 | New |
| | Society for a New Bulgaria [bg] | 2,249 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy | 2,128 | 0.10 | 0 | 0 |
| | For a Great Bulgaria | 1,893 | 0.09 | 0 | New |
| | Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy [bg] | 946 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | Bulgarian National Unification | 920 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 |
| None of the above | None of the above | 63,913 | 2.89 | – | – |
| Total | Total | 2,211,648 | 100.00 | 240 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,211,648 | 97.42 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 58,496 | 2.58 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 2,270,144 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,593,275 | 34.43 | | |
| Source: Central Electoral Commission ||||||

## Presidential election

Presidential elections have been held since 1992. From 1996 onwards, presidential elections have been held every five years.
| Candidate | Candidate | Running mate | Party | First round | First round | Second round | Second round |
| Candidate | Candidate | Running mate | Party | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| | Rumen Radev | Iliana Iotova | Independent (BSPzB, PP, ITN, IBG-NI) | 1,322,385 | 49.42 | 1,539,650 | 66.72 |
| | Anastas Gerdzhikov | Nevyana Miteva | Independent (GERB–SDS) | 610,862 | 22.83 | 733,791 | 31.80 |
| | Mustafa Karadayi | Iskra Mihaylova | Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 309,681 | 11.57 | | |
| | Kostadin Kostadinov | Elena Guncheva | Revival | 104,832 | 3.92 | | |
| | Lozan Panov | Maria Kasimova | Independent (Democratic Bulgaria) | 98,488 | 3.68 | | |
| | Luna Yordanova | Iglena Ilieva | Independent | 21,733 | 0.81 | | |
| | Volen Siderov | Magdalena Tasheva | Attack | 14,792 | 0.55 | | |
| | Svetoslav Vitkov | Veselin Belokonski | People's Voice | 13,972 | 0.52 | | |
| | Milen Mihov | Mariya Tsvetkova | VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement | 13,376 | 0.50 | | |
| | Rosen Milenov | Ivan Ivanov | Independent | 12,644 | 0.47 | | |
| | Goran Blagoev | Ivelina Georgieva | Republicans for Bulgaria | 12,323 | 0.46 | | |
| | Veselin Mareshki | Polina Tsankova | Volya Movement | 10,536 | 0.39 | | |
| | Valeri Simeonov | Tsvetan Manchev | Patriotic Front | 8,568 | 0.32 | | |
| | Nikolay Malinov | Svetlana Koseva | Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland | 8,213 | 0.31 | | |
| | Tsveta Kirilova | Georgi Tutanov | Independent | 7,706 | 0.29 | | |
| | Aleksandar Tomov | Lachezar Avramov | Bulgarian Social Democratic Party–EuroLeft | 7,235 | 0.27 | | |
| | Boyan Rasate | Elena Vatashka | Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy | 6,798 | 0.25 | | |
| | Marina Malcheva | Savina Lukanova | Independent | 6,315 | 0.24 | | |
| | Zhelyo Zhelev | Kalin Krulev | Society for a New Bulgaria | 6,154 | 0.23 | | |
| | Blagoy Petrevski | Sevina Hadjiyska | Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy | 5,518 | 0.21 | | |
| | Yolo Denev | Mario Filev | Independent | 5,394 | 0.20 | | |
| | Maria Koleva | Gancho Popov | Pravoto | 4,666 | 0.17 | | |
| | Georgi Georgiev-Goti | Stoyan Tsvetkov | Bulgarian National Unification | 2,958 | 0.11 | | |
| None of the above | None of the above | None of the above | None of the above | 60,786 | 2.27 | 34,169 | 1.48 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 2,675,935 | 100.00 | 2,307,610 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,675,935 | 99.65 | 2,307,610 | 99.83 |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 9,487 | 0.35 | 3,909 | 0.17 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,685,422 | 100.00 | 2,311,519 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 6,667,895 | 40.27 | 6,672,935 | 34.64 |
| Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (first round), Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (second round) ||||||||

## 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;
* On 8 September 1946 the question was if Bulgaria was to remain a monarchy or become a republic;
* On 16 May 1971 the nation's approval of a new constitution was asked;
* On 27 January 2013 the question was if Bulgaria should develop its nuclear power by building a new nuclear power plant.
* 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.