Bulgaria’s CEC announces seat distribution after October 2 parliamentary election
Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission (CEC) announced late on October 5 the seat distribution in the 48th National Assembly, with the full list of MPs set to be made public next week.
Former Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB-Union of Democratic Forces electoral coalition were allocated 67 seats, eight more than after the November 14 2021 snap polls. The coalition won 25.3 per cent of the vote on October 2.
Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev’s We Continue the Change (WCC) party will have 53 MPs in the next Parliament after winning 20.2 per cent. It had 65 MPs in the previous legislature.
Predominantly ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) won 36 seats, up from 34. The party finished third with 13.8 per cent of the vote, boosted by the votes received outside Bulgaria, where it received 31.8 per cent, mainly due to a strong showing at the polling stations in Turkey.
Pro-Russian Vuzrazhdane party, which more than doubled it electoral score to 10.2 per cent to finish fourth, will have 27 MPs, up from 13 in the 47th National Assembly.
With 9.3 per cent of the vote, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) sunk to fifth, its lowest result ever, and would have 25 MPs, one fewer than in the previous parliament.
Hristo Ivanov’s Democratic Bulgaria coalition won 7.5 per cent and will have 20 MPs, up from 16 MPs it had following the November 2021 election.
Former caretaker prime minister Stefan Yanev’s Bulgarian Revival will have the smallest group in the next National Assembly after clearing the parliamentary representation just months after registering. Having won with 4.6 per cent of the vote, it will have 12 MPs.
The final turnout in the parliamentary elections was 39.4 per cent, a new record low, CEC data showed.
CEC will finalise the list of MPs elected no later than October 9, after candidates who were elected in more than one electoral district choose which one they will represent, while some candidates initially deemed elected may inform the commission that they did not want to take up their seats.
(Bulgaria’s National Assembly plenary hall. Photo: parliament.bg)
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