Bulgaria electoral body announces final tally of May 2019 European Parliament elections
Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission has announced the final results of Bulgaria’s European Parliament elections held on May 26, but held off announcing the names of the country’s 17 MEPs.
The nominees have until the end of the day on May 30 to say whether they will take up their seats. Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) leader Mustafa Karadayi and the number two on the party’s European Parliament candidate list, controversial figure Delyan Peevski, have already said that they would not.
The results showed Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB party receiving 31.07 per cent of the vote, winning six seats. The largest opposition party, the socialists, received 24.26 per cent and won five seats.
Predominantly Turk MRF got 16.55 per cent and three seats, followed by ultra-nationalist VMRO with 7.36 per cent and two seats. Centre-right Democratic Bulgaria received 6.06 per cent and won one seat.
Prefential votes for candidates showed reshuffling on two party lists – former party leader Sergei Stanishev moving up from fifth to second on the socialist list, while director Andrey Slabakov’s preferential votes moved him up to second on the VMRO list. On the Democratic Bulgaria list, former diplomat Stefan Tafrov’s preferential votes were not enough to put him ahead of list leader Radan Kanev.
Turnout at Bulgaria’s 2019 European Parliament election was 32.6 per cent, CEC data showed.
