Balkans | 6 parties will participate in the new Bulgarian Parliament

After the early general elections held on April 2, 6 parties and coalitions above the 4 percent threshold will be represented in the 240-member parliament.

The Central Election Commission (ZEC) reports that voter turnout in the country, where there are 6 million 600 thousand registered voters, is 40.63 percent.

Citizens for European Development in Bulgaria (GERB), led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, who ruled the country for 12 years until 2021, won the election with 670,000 votes, ending up ahead with 26.51% of the vote.

The right-wing Continuous Change-Bulgarian Democratic Alliance (PP-DB) ranked second with 24.54 percent.

The pro-Russian populist Vizrajdan Party came in third with 14.15 percent.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (HÖH), whose members are mostly Turks and Muslims, got 13.72 percent with 346,437 votes. MRF will have the fourth largest group in Parliament.

The MRF raised the votes it received from Bulgarian immigrants living in Turkey by 12,000 in the previous election, to 69,978.

HÖH is expected to play an active role in forming a new government.

The pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party, heir to the former Communist Party, lost votes in this election as well, remaining 8.94 percent.

Having narrowly crossed the election threshold of 4.11 percent, the People’s Var Party (ITN) also won the right to represent in Parliament.

The Central Election Commission announced that it will announce the final official results by 6 April.

AA