page_title: 2019 Bulgarian local elections
section_title: First round
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 Bulgarian local elections / Results / First round
caption_attribution_description: English: A map depicting the results of the first round of the Bulgarian local elections in 2019
context_page_description: The first round of the local elections for mayors and municipal councilors on both the local and provincial level in Bulgaria were held on 27 October 2019. The second round of the election took place on 3 November, as per the decree signed by the President of Bulgaria. 6,227,901 Bulgarians were included on the voter lists and were eligible to vote, a 136,000 voter reduction compared to the 2015 local elections.
  Following the final results, the results on the provincial level showed that the ruling GERB party had lost 6 mayorships in comparison to the previous election. The Socialist Party gained four, the Bulgaria for Citizens movement gained one, the Union of Democratic Forces and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms kept their previous result by obtaining one each, and two independent candidates were elected.
context_section_description: Following the first round on 27 October, the ruling GERB party remained Bulgaria's strongest political party. It won 90 localities in the first round, compared to 65 in the 2015 elections. Despite this increase, GERB's overall support had actually decreased, in what some political scientists described as an "erosion", a "serious challenge" for the party, and a "heavy hit". On the provincial level, the party obtained a plurality of Bulgaria's provinces, winning the mayoral elections on the first round in 8 regions, and qualifying for a runoff in all but three other regions.
  The Bulgarian Socialist Party won 35 localities in the first round and qualified for the runoff election in 50 more. The party is going to compete against GERB in a runoff election in 9 major cities, compared to the zero it had during the previous election. The party enjoyed a considerable overall increase in support, but still lagged behind GERB by a non-negligible margin. On the provincial level, while the party didn't win any mayoral positions in the first round, it qualified to the runoff election in 13 of Bulgaria's regions.
  The Movement for Rights and Freedoms won the Kardzhali mayoral election on the provincial level in the first round and qualified for the runoff in the Targovishte Province.
  IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement, the Union of Democratic Forces, the Bulgaria for Citizens Movement, the "Direct Democracy" movement and two Independent candidates didn't win any mayoral positions on the provincial level in the first round of the election, but qualified for one runoff election each.
  The nationwide electoral turnout was around 42%.
caption: A map graphically depicting the results of the First round of the mayoral election on the provincial level of the election. Source: Central Electoral Commission official results
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