Bulgaria’s CEC announces seat distribution after April 2 parliamentary election

Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced the seat distribution in the 49th 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 69 seats, two more than after the October 2022 snap polls. The coalition won 26.5 per cent of the vote on April 2.

The We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (WCC-DB) electoral coalition will have 64 MPs in the next Parliament after winning 24.6 per cent.

In the 48th National Assembly, the two groups had a total of 73 MPs, with Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev’s WCC having 53 MPs and Hristo Ivanov’s Democratic Bulgaria coalition having 20 MPs.

Pro-Russian Vuzrazhdane party continued its ascending trend and will have 37 MPs after finishing third with 14.2 per cent, up from 27 MPs in the previous legislature.

Predominantly ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) won 36 seats, the same number it had in the 48th National Assembly. It finished fourth with 13.8 per cent of the vote.

Support for Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) continues to decline and the party received 8.9 per cent of the vote. It will have 23 MPs, two fewer than in the previous Parliament.

Cable presenter Slavi Trifonov’s ITN will make a return to Parliament as the smallest group, receiving 4.11 per cent and 11 seats. It failed to clear the four per cent threshold in the October 2022 election, but had as many as 65 MPs in the short-lived 46th National Assembly elected in June 2021.

The final turnout in the parliamentary elections was 40.7 per cent, slightly higher than the record-low 39.4 per cent recorded at the October 2022 election, CEC data showed.

CEC will finalise the list of MPs elected no later than April 10, 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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