Bulgaria’s 2013 elections: Notes from the aftermath
From The Sofia Globe’s post-election notebook, May 14, two days after Bulgaria’s national parliamentary elections:
* The Bulgarian Socialist Party will seek co-operation in its planned “programme government” not only from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and Ataka, but also from parties that did not win enough votes to get seats in Parliament, socialist leader Sergei Stanishev said on May 14.
* The Central Election Commission released its tally after completing 100 per cent of the count of votes cast in Bulgaria. The figures that follow do not include all votes cast abroad, but do include in brackets an unofficial estimate of the number of seats each party would have in the 240-seat 42nd National Assembly – GERB 30.53 per cent (98), Bulgarian Socialist Party 26.65 per cent (86), Movement for Rights and Freedoms 11.22 per cent (33) and Ataka 7.31 per cent (23).
* The National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria, the ultra-nationalist splinter from Ataka, said that it wanted the elections overturned, alleging that its share of the vote had been deliberately reduced to keep it below the four per cent vote share threshold for entry to parliament. The NFSB’s leader said that while a parallel count after voting closed on May 12 had given it 4.11 per cent, official results showed 3.71 per cent. The NFSB also alleged that there had been a complete media blackout of its campaign.
* Also wanted the election overturned was the Orlov Most – For Change party, which turned in a result vastly below the threshold. One of the “parties of the protesters”, the party said that if did not get satisfaction from Bulgarian institutions, it would appeal to the European Commission. It said that the elections were “unconstitutional and illegal”.
(Photo: Neil Simon via oscepa/flickr.com)
