Bulgarians head to poll to elect new parliament amid corruption worries

The April 2021 elections saw the ruling GERB party win 75 seats, There Is Such A People (ITN) 51 seats, BSP for Bulgaria 43 seats, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms 30 seats, Democratic Bulgaria 27 seats and Stand Up! Mafia, Get Out! 14 seats.

After Boyko Borisov of GERB and Slavi Trifonov of There Is Such A People (ITN) were unable to form governments, the BSP stated that they would refuse the mandate to form the government, as the three anti-corruption parties (ITN, Democratic Bulgaria, and ISMV) were unwilling to work with them.

The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected by open list proportional representation from 31 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 4 to 16 seats. The electoral threshold is 4% for parties, with seats allocated according to the largest remainder method.

According to the latest opinion polls, the new election might produce similar results but also a further decrease in support for former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party, after the caretaker government made allegations of widespread corruption during his rule. (ILKHA)