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Thepolitics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of aparliamentaryrepresentative democraticrepublic,[1] whereby theprime minister is thehead of government, and of amulti-party system.[2]Executive power is exercised by the government.Legislative power is vested in both thegovernment and theNational Assembly. TheJudiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
After forty-five years ofsingle party system, Bulgaria became an unstable party system in 1989. This system was dominated by democratic parties and opposition to socialists – theUnion of Democratic Forces and several personalistic parties and the post-communistBulgarian Socialist Party or its creatures, which emerged for a short period of time in the past decade. Personalistic parties could have been seen in the former governing (from 2001 to 2005)Simeon II'sNDSV party andBoyko Borisov'sGERB party.
Bulgaria has generally goodfreedom of speech andhuman rights records as reported by theUS Library of Congress Federal Research Division in 2006,[3] whileFreedom House listed it as "free" in 2020, giving it scores of 33 for political rights and 45 for civil liberties.[4] However, in 2014, there were some concerns that the proposed newPenal Code would limit freedom of the press and assembly,[5] and as a consequence freedom of speech. TheEconomist Intelligence Unit rated Bulgaria a "flawed democracy" in 2022.[6][needs update] Bulgaria was fully admitted to theSchengen area on January 1, 2025.[7]
After the fall of the communism in 1989, theformer communist party was restructured and succeeded by theBulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which won the first post-communist elections for the Constitutional Assembly in1990 with a small majority. Meanwhile,Zhelyu Zhelev, a communist-era dissident from the new democratic party -Union of Democratic Forces (abbreviated in Bulgarian as SDS), was elected president by the Assembly in 1990. In the first years after the change of regime, Bulgarian politics had to (re)establish the foundations of a democratic society in the country after nearly fifty years of de facto totalitarian communism. The so-called period of transition (from a Soviet socialist model to an economic structure focused on development through economic growth) began in the early 1990s. The politics of Bulgaria was aimed at joining the European Union and the NATO fold, as the alliances were recognised to have political agendas similar to the goals of the new Bulgarian democracy.[citation needed]
In contemporary Bulgaria, the government and its leader - the Prime Minister, have more political influence and significance than the President. Thus, the parliamentary elections set the short-term social and political environment in the country since the cabinet (chosen by the Prime Minister and approved by the parliament) decides how the country is governed while the President can only make suggestions and impose vetoes.[citation needed]
In the first parliamentary elections held under the newconstitution of Bulgaria, inOctober 1991, theUnion of Democratic Forces (SDS) party won a plurality of the seats, having won 110 out of the 240 seats, and created a cabinet alone with the support of theMovement for Rights and Freedoms—a liberal party (in Bulgarian abbreviated: DPS) which is widely perceived as a party of the ethnic Turks minority in Bulgaria. Yet, their government collapsed in late 1992, and was succeeded by a technocratic team put forward by theBulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which served until 1994 when it also collapsed. The President dissolved the government and appointed a provisional one to serve until early parliamentary elections could be held in December.[8]
BSP won convincingly these elections inDecember 1994 with a majority of 125 seats out of the 240. Due to the severe economic crisis in Bulgaria during their government, BSP's cabinet collapsed and in 1997 a caretaker cabinet was appointed by the President, again, to serve until early parliamentary elections could be held in April 1997.
TheApril 1997 elections resulted in a landslide victory for the SDS, winning a majority of 137 seats in parliament, and allowing them to form thenext government. This proved to be the first post-communist government that did not collapse and served its full 4-year term until 2001.
In2001, the former monarch of BulgariaSimeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha returned to power, this time as prime minister with hisNational Movement Simeon II (in Bulgarian abbreviated: NDSV), having won half (120) of the seats.[9] His party entered acoalition with the DPS and invited two functionaries of the BSP (who sat as independents). In opposition were the two previously governing parties - the Socialist Party and the Union of Democratic Forces. In the four years in opposition the SDS suffered the defection of numerous splinter groups. The ruling party NDSV itselfruptured into a pro-right core and a pro-liberalfringe group.[10] Bulgaria enteredNATO in 2004.[11]
In the aftermath, the BSP won the parliamentary elections in2005 with 82 out of the 240 seats, but as it did not get the majority of the seats, acoalition government was formed by the three biggest parties - BSP, NDSV and DPS. The elections also put in parliament some of the right-wing parties, as well as the extreme-right nationalist coalition led by the partyAtaka as an answer to the former coalition government of NDSV with DPS.[12] Bulgaria entered theEuropean Union in 2007.[13]
In the parliamentary elections of2009, the centre-right party ofBoyko Borisov, the mayor ofSofia,GERB, won with 117 seats. The party formed aminority government with the support of the right-wing parties.[14] Once the governing party - theNational Movement Simeon II did not amass enough votes to enter the parliament.[15] The austerity measures required in the stagnation of theGreat Recession led tomassive protests and the resignation of the cabinet in early 2013, months before the end of GERB's term.[16]
In the earlyelections the former opposition party BSP received highest vote from the people. The socialist party chose the non-party former Minister of FinancePlamen Oresharski to form acabinet. His cabinet was supported by the BSP and the DPS, opposed by GERB, while Ataka was absent.[17]
Only two weeks after its initial formation the Oresharski government came under criticism and had to deal withlarge-scale protests some with more than 11 000 participants.[18] One of the main reasons for these protests was the controversial appointment of media mogulDelyan Peevski as a chief of the National Security State Agency.[19] The protests continued over the lifetime of the Oresharski government. In all, the government survived 5votes of no-confidence before voluntarily resigning.[20] Following an agreement from the three largest parties (GERB, BSP and DPS) to hold early parliamentary elections for 25 March 2016,[21] the cabinet agreed to resign, with the resignation of the cabinet becoming a fact on 13 January 2016. The next day parliament voted 180-8 (8 abstained and 44 were absent) to accept the government's resignation. Following the vote, President Plevneliev offered the mandate to GERB to try and form government, but it was refused. The next day the BSP returned the mandate as well.[22] On 21 January, the DPS refused the mandate as well. Finally, on 26 January, acaretaker government led byGeorgi Bliznashki was sworn into office and the Oresharski government was officially dissolved.[23]
As agreed,parliamentary elections were held on 25 March 2016 to elect the 43rdNational Assembly.[24]GERB became the largest party, winning 84 of the 240 seats with around a third of the vote. A total of eight parties won seats, the first time since the beginning of democratic elections in 1990 that more than seven parties entered parliament.[25] After being tasked byPresidentRosen Plevneliev to form a government, Borisov's GERBformed a coalition with theReformist Bloc,[26][27][28] had a partnership agreement for the support of theAlternative for Bulgarian Revival,[29] and also had the outside support of thePatriotic Front. The cabinet of twenty ministers was approved by a majority of 136–97 (with one abstention). With the support of the coalition partner (the Reformist Bloc) members of the parties in the Bloc (Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB),Union of Democratic Forces (SDS),Bulgaria for Citizens Movement (DBG) andBulgarian Agrarian National Union (BZNS)) were chosen for Minister positions. The vice chairman of theAlternative for Bulgarian Revival partyIvaylo Kalfin was voted for Depute Prime Minister and Minister of Labor and Social Policy.
In May 2017,Boyko Borisov was re-elected as Prime Minister of Bulgaria for the second time. Borisov had resigned and called earlyelections after his conservative GERB party lost thepresidential elections previous year. He formed a coalition government with nationalistVMRO-BND andNational Front for Salvation of Bulgaria. TheSocialist Party and the TurkishDPS party formed the opposition.[30]
The2020–2021 Bulgarian protests were triggered on 9 July 2020 when the Presidency of Bulgaria was raided by police and prosecutors as a result of a long-lasting conflict between the prime ministerBoyko Borisov and the presidentRumen Radev.[31] In April 2021, Borisov's party, center-right, pro-EuropeanGERB won theparliamentary election. It was again the largest party of the parliament but it did not get the absolute majority, indicating difficult coalition talks.[32] All other parties refused to form a government,[33] and after a brief deadlock, another elections were calledfor July 2021, withStefan Yanev serving as an interim prime minister of a caretaker cabinet until then.[34]
In the July 2021 snapelection, an anti-elite party called There Is Such a People (ITN) finished first with 24.08 percent and former prime minister Boyko Borisov's GERB-led coalition finished second with 23.51 percent of the vote.[35] A coalition government was unable to be formed, and so a third parliamentary election was scheduled for November 2021 to align with the regularly scheduled presidential election. In the2021 Bulgarian general election,Kiril Petkov'sPP party emerged as surprise victors over the conservative GERB party, which had dominated Bulgarian politics in the last decade. In December 2021, Bulgaria's parliament formally electedKiril Petkov as the country's next prime minister, ending a months-long political crisis. The new centrist-led government was a coalition led by Petkov's anti-corruptionWe Continue The Change party (PP) with three other political groups: the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, the anti-elite There Is Such A People party, and the liberal group Democratic Bulgaria. They together control 134 seats in Bulgaria's 240-seat parliament.[36] The cabinet of Kiril Petkov fell after a vote of no confidence of 22 June 2022.[37] President Radev appointedGalab Donev as acting prime minister to lead a caretaker cabinet. Bulgaria's fourth parliamentaryelections in less than two years will be held on October 2, 2022.[38]
In April 2023, because of the political deadlock, Bulgaria held its fifth parliamentaryelection since April 2021. GERB was the biggest, winning 69 seats. The bloc led byWe Continue the Change won 64 seats in the 240-seat parliament. In June 2023, Prime MinisterNikolai Denkov formed a new coalition between We Continue The Change and GERB. According to the coalition agreement, Denkov will lead the government for the first nine months. He will be succeeded by former European Commissioner,Mariya Gabriel, of the GERB party. She will take over as prime minister after nine months.[39]
On27 October 2024 parliamentary snap elections were held after allthree attempts to form a government following the latestJune 2024 elections failed. This was the country's sixth election since April 2021. This series of snap elections is the result ofa political crisis affecting the country.
In 1992,Zhelyu Zhelev won Bulgaria's first presidentialelections and served as president until 1997. In thesecond, the winning president was another member of the Union of Democratic Forces,Petar Stoyanov, who served until 2002.[40] In2001, the leader of theBulgarian Socialist Party,Georgi Parvanov defeated Stoyanov.[41] He took office in 2002 and served until 2012, becoming the first president to be reelected, after his successful2006 campaign.[42] In2011 GERB candidateRosen Plevneliev was elected to serve as president from 2012 until January 2017.[43] In2016 Socialist party candidate, former air force commanderRumen Radev won the presidential election.[44][45] On 18 January 2017, Rumen Radev was sworn in as the new President of Bulgaria.[46] President Rumen Radev, a vocal critic and rival of prime minister Borisov, announced that he will run for a second five-year term in autumn2021 presidential elections.[47] In November 2021, President Rumen Radev was easily re-elected in thepresidential election with a very low turnout of 34 per cent.[48]
Thepresident of Bulgaria is directly elected for a 5-year term with the right to one re-election. The president serves as thehead of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The President's main duties are to schedule elections and referendums, represent Bulgaria abroad, conclude international treaties, and head the Consultative Council for National Security. The President may return legislation to the National Assembly for further debate—a kind of veto—but the legislation can be passed again by an absolute majority vote.
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The Bulgarianunicameralparliament, the National Assembly orNarodno Sabranie, consists of 240 deputies who are elected for 4-year-terms by popular vote. The votes are for party or coalition lists of candidates for each of the 28 administrative divisions. A party or coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. Parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of theprime minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements.
The results showed that no party attained a majority in the National Assembly, with GERB attaining a plurality of seats. Turnout was 34.4 percent, the lowest since the end of communist rule in 1989.[49][50]
| Candidate | Running mate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
| Rumen Radev | Iliana Iotova | Independent (BSPzB,PP,ITN,IBG-NI) | 1,322,385 | 49.42 | 1,539,650 | 66.72 | |
| Anastas Gerdzhikov | Nevyana Miteva | Independent (GERB–SDS) | 610,862 | 22.83 | 733,791 | 31.80 | |
| Mustafa Karadayi | Iskra Mihaylova | Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 309,681 | 11.57 | |||
| Kostadin Kostadinov | Elena Guncheva | Revival | 104,832 | 3.92 | |||
| Lozan Panov | Maria Kasimova | Independent (Democratic Bulgaria) | 98,488 | 3.68 | |||
| Luna Yordanova | Iglena Ilieva | Independent | 21,733 | 0.81 | |||
| Volen Siderov | Magdalena Tasheva | Attack | 14,792 | 0.55 | |||
| Svetoslav Vitkov | Veselin Belokonski | People's Voice | 13,972 | 0.52 | |||
| Milen Mihov | Mariya Tsvetkova | VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement | 13,376 | 0.50 | |||
| Rosen Milenov | Ivan Ivanov | Independent | 12,644 | 0.47 | |||
| Goran Blagoev | Ivelina Georgieva | Republicans for Bulgaria | 12,323 | 0.46 | |||
| Veselin Mareshki | Polina Tsankova | Volya Movement | 10,536 | 0.39 | |||
| Valeri Simeonov | Tsvetan Manchev | Patriotic Front | 8,568 | 0.32 | |||
| Nikolay Malinov | Svetlana Koseva | Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland | 8,213 | 0.31 | |||
| Tsveta Kirilova | Georgi Tutanov | Independent | 7,706 | 0.29 | |||
| Aleksandar Tomov | Lachezar Avramov | Bulgarian Social Democratic Party–EuroLeft | 7,235 | 0.27 | |||
| Boyan Rasate | Elena Vatashka | Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy | 6,798 | 0.25 | |||
| Marina Malcheva | Savina Lukanova | Independent | 6,315 | 0.24 | |||
| Zhelyo Zhelev | Kalin Krulev | Society for a New Bulgaria | 6,154 | 0.23 | |||
| Blagoy Petrevski | Sevina Hadjiyska | Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy | 5,518 | 0.21 | |||
| Yolo Denev | Mario Filev | Independent | 5,394 | 0.20 | |||
| Maria Koleva | Gancho Popov | Pravoto | 4,666 | 0.17 | |||
| Georgi Georgiev-Goti | Stoyan Tsvetkov | Bulgarian National Unification | 2,958 | 0.11 | |||
| None of the above | 60,786 | 2.27 | 34,169 | 1.48 | |||
| Total | 2,675,935 | 100.00 | 2,307,610 | 100.00 | |||
| Valid votes | 2,675,935 | 99.65 | 2,307,610 | 99.83 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 9,487 | 0.35 | 3,909 | 0.17 | |||
| Total votes | 2,685,422 | 100.00 | 2,311,519 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,667,895 | 40.27 | 6,672,935 | 34.64 | |||
| Source:Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (first round),Electoral Commission of Bulgaria (second round) | |||||||
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GERB—SDS | 607,194 | 30.13 | 6 | 0 | |
| Bulgarian Socialist Party | 474,160 | 23.53 | 5 | +1 | |
| Movement for Rights and Freedoms | 323,510 | 16.05 | 3 | –1 | |
| IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement | 143,830 | 7.14 | 2 | +1 | |
| Democratic Bulgaria | 118,484 | 5.88 | 1 | +1 | |
| Volya Movement | 70,830 | 3.51 | 0 | New | |
| Patriots for Valeri Simeonov (NFSB–SEK) | 22,421 | 1.11 | 0 | 0 | |
| NDSV–New Time | 21,315 | 1.06 | 0 | 0 | |
| Attack | 20,906 | 1.04 | 0 | 0 | |
| Revival | 20,319 | 1.01 | 0 | New | |
| Coalition for Bulgaria | 16,759 | 0.83 | 0 | 0 | |
| Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance | 7,130 | 0.35 | 0 | New | |
| People's Voice | 6,136 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 | |
| Party of Greens | 6,051 | 0.30 | 0 | 0 | |
| Movement 21 | 4,141 | 0.21 | 0 | New | |
| Reload Bulgaria | 3,907 | 0.19 | 0 | New | |
| Together Movement | 3,731 | 0.19 | 0 | New | |
| VOLT | 3,500 | 0.17 | 0 | New | |
| Direct Democracy | 2,425 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |
| Bulgarian National Unification | 2,370 | 0.12 | 0 | New | |
| Rise (RDP–ENP–BNF Chicago–SSD–BDS R) | 1,855 | 0.09 | 0 | New | |
| Independents | 73,317 | 3.64 | 0 | 0 | |
| None of the above | 61,029 | 3.03 | – | – | |
| Total | 2,015,320 | 100.00 | 17 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 2,015,320 | 96.17 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 80,238 | 3.83 | |||
| Total votes | 2,095,558 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 6,378,694 | 32.85 | |||
| Source:CIK | |||||
The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as aSupreme Court of Cassation and one Specialized Criminal Court.[51] In addition, there is aSupreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts. The Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court as well as theProsecutor General are elected by a qualified majority of two-thirds from all the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and are appointed by the President of the Republic. The Supreme Judicial Council is in charge of the self-administration and organisation of the Judiciary.
A qualified majority of two-thirds of the membership of the Supreme Judicial Council elects the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the Prosecutor General, from among its members; the President of the Republic then appoints those elected.
The Supreme Judicial Council has charge of the self-administration and organization of the Judiciary.
TheConstitutional Court of Bulgaria supervises the review of the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it, as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has signed. Parliament elects the 12 members of the Constitutional Court by a two-thirds majority. The members serve for a nine-year term.
The territory of the Republic of Bulgaria is divided intoprovinces andmunicipalities. In all Bulgaria has 28 provinces, each headed by aprovincial governor appointed by the government. In addition, there are 265 municipalities.
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Mass Media: In 2006 Bulgaria's print and broadcast media generally were considered unbiased, although the government dominated broadcasting through the state-owned Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) and print news dissemination through the largest press agency, the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency. [...]Human Rights: In the early 2000s, Bulgariagenerally has been rated highly on the issue of human rights. However, some exceptions exist. Although the media have a record of unbiased reporting, Bulgaria's lack of specific legislation protecting the media from state interference is a theoretical weakness.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theUnited States government.
