2017 Bulgarian parliamentary election

2017 Bulgarian parliamentary election
	All 240 seats in the National Assembly; 121 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	53.85% ( 2.8pp)

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 26 March 2017. They had originally been scheduled for 2018 at the end of the four-year term of the National Assembly. However, following the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the failure of Bulgarian parties to form a government, early elections were called.^[1] Borisov resigned following the defeat of Tsetska Tsacheva, the candidate of his GERB party, in the November 2016 presidential elections.^[2]^[3] The official election campaign began on 24 February.^[4]

GERB won a plurality, with 95 of the 240 seats. Borisov was elected Prime Minister again after negotiating a governing coalition.^[5]

Background

During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Borisov promised to resign if his party's candidate, Chairperson of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva, lost the election.

On 6 November 2016 Tsacheva finished second in the first round to BSP-backed Major General Rumen Radev, receiving only 22% of the popular vote compared to Radev's 25.4%.^[6] Following the result, Borisov reiterated his promise to resign if his party's candidate lost the runoff election a week later. On November 13, 2016, she finished a distant second with only 36.2% of the popular vote compared to Radev's 59.4%.^[7]

Borisov, staying true to his campaign promise, subsequently resigned on 14 November.^[8] Two days later, the National Assembly voted 218–0 to accept it.^[9]

Electoral system

The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected by closed list proportional representation from 31 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 4 to 16 seats. The electoral threshold is 4%.^[10]

Bulgarians abroad were able to vote in 371 voting sections in 70 foreign countries and territories. Some territories were excluded from this provision due to either security concerns (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria) or that very few resident Bulgarian nationals resident in the country had submitted requests to be enabled to vote (e.g. Ethiopia, Indonesia, Mongolia, North Korea and Pakistan).^[11]

Participating parties

The deadline for political parties to register for the election was 8 February 2017.^[12] Despite holding 15 seats in the Assembly, Reload Bulgaria chose not to compete in the election after being initially refused a name change, among other reasons.^[13] The list of registered parties is below.^[14]

Party or coalition		Leader	Ideology	European affiliation
GERB		Boyko Borisov	Conservatism, pro-Europeanism, populism	European People's Party
BSP for Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party	Korneliya Ninova	Socialism, Social democracy	Party of European Socialists
	Agrarian Union "Aleksandar Stamboliyski"	Spas Panchev	Agrarianism
	Communist Party of Bulgaria	Aleksandar Paunov	Marxism–Leninism
	New Dawn	Mincho Minchev	Left-wing nationalism
	Ecoglasnost		Green politics, Environmentalism
	Trakia
DPS		Mustafa Karadaya	Liberal democracy, Bulgarian Turk's minority rights and interests	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
United Patriots	National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria	Valeri Simeonov	Bulgarian ultranationalism, national conservatism, Euroscepticism	Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy
	Attack	Volen Siderov	Bulgarian nationalism, Euroscepticism	Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty
	IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement	Krasimir Karakachanov	Bulgarian ultranationalism, national conservatism	European Conservatives and Reformists
	Average European Class	Georgi Manev	Economic liberalism, Pro-Europeanism, populism
	Union of the Patriotic Forces "Defense"	Nikolay Zahariev	Bulgarian nationalism
Reformist Bloc	Bulgarian Agrarian National Union	Nikolay Nenchev	Agrarianism
	Bulgarian New Democracy	Borislav Velikov	Liberalism
	Bulgaria for Citizens Movement	Meglena Kuneva	Centrism
	Union of Democratic Forces	Bozhidar Lukarski	Christian democracy, pro-Europeanism, conservatism	European People's Party
	People's Voice	Svetoslav Vitkov	Populism
	Bulgarian Democratic Forum	Zhaklin Toleva	Nationalism
Volya		Veselin Mareshki	Populism, Russophilia, Liberal democracy
ABV – Movement 21	Alternative for Bulgarian Revival	Konstantin Prodanov	Social democracy, Russophilia
ABV – Movement 21	Movement 21	Tatyana Doncheva	Social democracy
Movement "Yes, Bulgaria"	Yes, Bulgaria!	Hristo Ivanov	Anti-Corruption
	The Greens	Zaritsa Georgieva, Vladislav Panev	Green politics, Environmentalism	European Green Party
	DEOS	Viktor Lilov	Liberalism
Coalition of dissatisfied	Bulgarian Social Democracy – EuroLeft	Dimitar Mitev	Social democracy
Coalition of dissatisfied	Christian Social Union	Dimitar Mitev	Christian democracy
Party of the Greens		Vladimir Nikolov	Green politics, Environmentalism	European Green Party
WHO – Bulgarian Left and Green Party	Bulgarian Left	Hristofor Dochev, Margarita Mileva, Ivan Genov	Democratic socialism	Party of the European Left
	WHO – Competence, Responsibility and Truth
	Green Party of Bulgaria		Green politics, Environmentalism	European Green Party
New Republic	Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria	Radan Kanev	National liberalism, pro-Europeanism	European People's Party
	Union for Plovdiv
	Bulgarian democratic community	Gospodin Tonev
Bulgarian democratic center		Krasimira Kovachka, Stefan Kenov	Conservatism
Movement for Radical Change "Bulgarian Spring"		Velizar Enchev	Left-wing nationalism
Bulgarian National Unification		Georgi Georgiev	Bulgarian nationalism
Revival		Kostadin Kostadinov	Bulgarian nationalism
National Republican Party		Mladen Mladenov
Movement for an Equal Public Model		Iliya Iliev	Rights and interests of Gypsies
Movement Forward Bulgaria		Zornitsa Todorova
Association DOST	Democrats for Responsibility, Solidarity and Tolerance (DOST)	Lyutvi Mestan	Turkish minority rights and interests, Good relations with Turkey
	People's Party "Freedom and Dignity"	Orhan Ismailov	Liberalism
	National Movement for Rights and Freedoms	Guner Tahir	Turkish minority rights and interests

Opinion polls

Percentages do not account for undecided voters. 'Date' column signifies the last date of the survey in question, not the date of publication.

Source	Date	Sample size	Margin of error	GERB	BSP	DPS	OP	RB	Volya	Yes!	ABV	Others / None	Lead
Source	Date	Sample size	Margin of error									Others / None	Lead
2014 election	5 October 2014			32.7%	15.4%	14.8%	11.8%^[1]	8.9%	–	–	4.2%	12.2%
Trend	17 January 2017	1,002	± 3.1%	32.2%	29.3%	7.8%	10.4%	3.7%	5.9%	0.7%	1.0%	9.0%	2.9%
Alpha Research	22 January 2017	1,024	± 3.0%	32.6%	28.8%	7.8%	10.7%	3.8%	4.4%	2.3%	1.4%	8.2%	3.8%
Estat	22 January 2017	1,000	± 3.1%	36.1%	27.5%	6.0%	7.0%	2.4%	8.4%	0.9%	1.9%	9.8%	8.6%
Gallup	30 January 2017	816	± 3.5%	27.6%	28.7%	8.2%	11.9%	4.3%	7.7%	2.0%	1.9%	7.7%	1.1%
CAM	7 February 2017	1,012	± 3.1%	29.2%	28.1%	9.6%	7.5%	3.7%	5.2%	1.5%	0.9%	14.3%	1.1%
Trend	9 February 2017	1,002	± 3.1%	29.7%	28.7%	9.0%	9.9%	3.4%	6.5%	2.3%	2.0%	8.5%	1.0%
Sova Haris	20 February 2017	1,003	± 3.0%	31.3%	31.6%	6.4%	10.3%	6.3%	7.2%	0.5%	3.0%	3.4%	0.3%
Alpha Research	23 February 2017	1,024	± 3.0%	31.5%	29.6%	6.8%	10.8%	3.9%	5.7%	2.6%	2.9%	6.2%	1.9%
AFIS^{[permanent dead link‍]}	27 February 2017	1,200	± 3.0%	28.2%	30.5%	6.7%	8.5%	4.5%	5.1%	1.3%	3.3%	12.0%	2.3%
Estat	28 February 2017	1,000	± 3.1%	29.5%	30.2%	6.4%	8.6%	3.9%	11.8%	2.3%	1.5%	5.8%	0.7%
Gallup	5 March 2017	1,003	± 3.1%	28.3%	30.2%	8.2%	11.9%	4.3%	7.4%	2.3%	2.6%	4.8%	1.9%
Institute of Modern Politics	6 March 2017	827	± 3.1%	29.1%	29.0%	7.3%	9.5%	3.5%	5.8%	1.7%	4.1%	10.0%	0.1%
Gallup	15 March 2017	1,012	± 3.0%	29.9%	30.3%	8.1%	11.5%	4.4%	6.5%	2.3%	2.4%	3.6%	0.4%
Estat	15 March 2017	1,000	± 3.1%	29.7%	27.2%	8.3%	8.6%	6.1%	10.5%	1.3%	2.6%	5.7%	2.5%
AFIS	16 March 2017	1,010	± 3.0%	31.2%	31.5%	8.5%	9.9%	4.4%	5.3%	1.1%	4.1%	4.1%	0.3%
Trend	16 March 2017	1,004	± 3.1%	29.8%	27.9%	8.7%	10.2%	3.8%	7.3%	2.1%	2.6%	7.6%	1.9%
CAM	16 March 2017	1,012	± 3.1%	29.6%	29.0%	10.8%	10.0%	3.5%	6.2%	1.9%	1.5%	7.5%	0.6%
Mediana	20 March 2017	1,010	± 3.0%	26.6%	27.7%	11.1%	10.2%	5.1%	9.6%	1.1%	4.0%	4.6%	1.1%
Institute of Modern Politics	20 March 2017	805	± 3.1%	28.5%	29.0%	9.1%	10.1%	4.0%	9.6%	2.0%	4.5%	3.2%	0.5%
Gallup	21 March 2017	1,012	± 3.0%	27.1%	26.5%	9.7%	12.3%	3.8%	8.2%	2.4%	2.6%	7.4%	0.6%
Alpha Research	22 March 2017	1,033	± 3.0%	31.7%	29.1%	8.4%	8.9%	4.0%	6.8%	2.5%	2.9%	5.7%	2.6%
Exacta	22 March 2017	1,000	± 3.0%	31.2%	28.1%	7.6%	10.5%	4.0%	6.5%	1.5%	2.6%	8.0%	3.1%

^ Combined result of the Patriotic Front and Attack.

Results

Five parties crossed the 4% threshold required to gain seats. GERB maintained their position as the largest party.



Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	GERB	1,147,292	32.65	–0.0	95	+11
	BSP for Bulgaria	955,490	27.19	+11.8	80	+41
	United Patriots	318,513	9.07	+4.3	27	–3
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	315,976	8.99	–5.9	26	–12
	Volya	145,637	4.15	New	12	New
	Reformist Bloc	107,407	3.06	–5.8	0	–23
	Yes, Bulgaria!	101,177	2.88	New	0	New
	Association DOST	100,479	2.86	New	0	New
	New Republic	86,984	2.48	New	0	New
	Alternative for Bulgarian Revival–Movement 21	54,412	1.55	–2.6	0	–11
	Revival	37,896	1.08	New	0	New
	Party of the Greens	10,159	0.29	–0.3	0	0
	Bulgarian Spring	9,232	0.26	New	0	New
	Forward Bulgaria Movement	6,644	0.19	New	0	New
	Coalition of the Dissatisfied	5,945	0.17	New	0	New
	Movement for an Equal Public Model	4,989	0.14	New	0	New
	Bulgarian National Unification	3,921	0.11	New	0	New
	Bulgarian Democratic Center	3,130	0.09	New	0	New
	WHO–BL–ZP	2,916	0.08		0	0
	National Republican Party	2,325	0.07	New	0	New
	Independents	5,116	0.15	–0.0	0	0
None of the above		87,850	2.50	–	–	–
Total		3,513,490	100.00	–	240	0

Valid votes		3,513,490	95.41
Invalid/blank votes		169,009	4.59
Total votes		3,682,499	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,838,235	53.85
Source: CIK

Voter demographics

Gallup exit polling suggested the following demographic breakdown.

Voter demographics^[15]
Social group	% GERB	% BSP	% OP	% DPS	% Volya	% RB	% Yes!	% DOST	% Others	% Lead
Social group									% Others	% Lead
Exit poll result	33	28	10	9	4	3	3	3	7	5
Final result	32.7	27.2	9.1	9.0	4.2	3.1	2.9	2.8	8	5.5
Gender
Men	31	25	10	9	5	4	3	3	9	6
Women	33	30	8	8	4	3	4	2	8	3
Age
18–30	32	14	7	11	5	5	8	4	13	18
30-60	34	23	10	9	6	5	4	2	7	11
60+	26	44	9	6	3	1	1	2	8	18
Highest Level of Education
Lower education	21	28	6	26	2	2	0	9	6	2
Secondary education	34	26	10	8	5	4	2	2	9	8
Higher education	32	28	8	3	4	6	7	0	11	4
Ethnic Group
Bulgarian	34	30	11	1	5	4	5	1	9	4
Turkish	14	8	0	53	2	0	1	19	3	34
Roma	28	21	2	23	1	7	0	9	9	5
Location
Towns and villages	28	26	8	21	3	2	0	10	10	2
Smaller cities	29	32	11	8	5	4	2	4	5	3
Larger cities	35	27	9	3	6	5	4	0	11	8
Sofia	33	23	7	1	3	8	12	0	13	10
How they vote in second round of 2016 presidential election
Rumen Radev - 53,4%	9	48	11	10	4	3	2	2	11	37
Tsetska Tsacheva - 30,5%	75	2	4	3	4	4	2	2	4	71
No one/didn't vote - 16,1%	25	5	13	11	8	7	10	5	16	12

Aftermath and government formation

Boyko Borisov appeared set to resume his tenure as Prime Minister, possibly with a coalition with the United Patriots,^[16] and ultimately formed the Second Borisov Government with the United Patriots.

References

^ Bulgaria Heads for Early Elections Balkan Insight, 20 December 2016
^ Bulgaria Sliding Toward Caretaker Govt, But with Same Parliament Novinite, 13 November 2016
^ Bulgarian PM Borisov resigns, snap parliamentary polls likely Reuters, 14 November 2016
^ "Election Campaign Starts in Bulgaria". novinite.com. Novinite JSC. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
^ Hope, Kerin; Troev, Theodor (27 March 2017). "Former PM Borisov claims victory in Bulgarian election". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 March 2017.(subscription required)
^ "Резултати за президент и вицепрезидент на републиката-I Тур". cik.bg. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ "Резултати за президент и вицепрезидент на републиката-II Тур". cik.bg. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
^ Bulgarian PM Borisov tenders his government resignation Reuters, 14 November 2016
^ "Bulgarian MPs Accept PM Borisov's Resignation". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
^ Bulgaria IFES
^ Central Electoral Commission – Decision #4400 – March 4, 2017
^ "Bulgaria's Early Election: Parties' Registration Deadline Expires". novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
^ "Reload Bulgaria Party Not to Participate in March 26 Elections". bta.bg. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^ "Централна избирателна комисия".
^ "Парламентарни избори 2017 – подробни демографски профили и някои наблюдения" [Parliamentary Elections 2017 – Detailed Demographic Profiles and Some Observations] (in Bulgarian). 27 March 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
^ Georgiev, Ognyan (27 March 2017). "Bulgaria's Borisov is Back — But Coalition May be Shaky". Politico. Retrieved 27 March 2017.

[1] Bulgaria Heads for Early Elections Balkan Insight, 20 December 2016

[2] Bulgaria Sliding Toward Caretaker Govt, But with Same Parliament Novinite, 13 November 2016

[R-3] Bulgarian PM Borisov resigns, snap parliamentary polls likely Reuters, 14 November 2016

[4] "Election Campaign Starts in Bulgaria". novinite.com. Novinite JSC. 24 February 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2017.

[FT_result-5] Hope, Kerin; Troev, Theodor (27 March 2017). "Former PM Borisov claims victory in Bulgarian election". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 March 2017.(subscription required)

[6] "Резултати за президент и вицепрезидент на републиката-I Тур". cik.bg. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2017.

[7] "Резултати за президент и вицепрезидент на републиката-II Тур". cik.bg. Central Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2017.

[8] Bulgarian PM Borisov tenders his government resignation Reuters, 14 November 2016

[9] "Bulgarian MPs Accept PM Borisov's Resignation". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.

[10] Bulgaria IFES

[11] Central Electoral Commission – Decision #4400 – March 4, 2017

[12] "Bulgaria's Early Election: Parties' Registration Deadline Expires". novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.

[13] "Reload Bulgaria Party Not to Participate in March 26 Elections". bta.bg. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.

[14] "Централна избирателна комисия".

[15] "Парламентарни избори 2017 – подробни демографски профили и някои наблюдения" [Parliamentary Elections 2017 – Detailed Demographic Profiles and Some Observations] (in Bulgarian). 27 March 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2023.

[16] Georgiev, Ognyan (27 March 2017). "Bulgaria's Borisov is Back — But Coalition May be Shaky". Politico. Retrieved 27 March 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]