2023 Bulgarian local elections
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Local elections in Bulgaria were held on 29 October 2023.[1]Mayors and municipal councillors across the country were elected.[2]
Electoral system[edit]
The elections to Bulgaria's municipal councils are conducted viaproportional representationwith anopen list preferential voting system.
The mayoral elections take place within the context of amajoritariantwo-round system.The first round of the elections will be held on 29 October. If no candidate in a given constituency manages to gain 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held for that constituency in the second round on 5 November.[3]
Voting isofficially mandatory,but in practice there is no punishment for failing to vote and the law itself isn't strictly enforced.[4]
Voters further have the option to voteagainst all proposed candidates.[5]
Contesting parties[edit]
Local parties & coalitions[edit]
Name | Location | Ideology | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leader(s) | |||||
Unification for Plovdiv | Bulgarian Cause | Plovdiv | Local politics | Georgi Tityukov | |
New Leaders | Plovdiv | Local politics Direct Democracy | |||
RzSR | Development for Septemvri and the Region | Septemvri | Local politics | Radoslav Lyutakov | |
SzP | Union for Plovdiv | Plovdiv | Local politics Liberal conservatism |
Yevelin Paraskov Veselin Kozarev | |
BzR | Future of the Motherland | Stara Zagora | Local politics | Stanislav Popov | |
DzPP | Movement for the Prosperity of Pernik | Pernik | Local politics | Stanislav Vladimirov | |
SS | Spasi Sofia | Sofia | Local politics Anti-corruption |
Boris Bonev | |
MORE | More | Nesebar | Local politics Rural interests |
Peycho Kolev |
Mayorship of Sofia[edit]
The election for the position ofMayor of Sofia,Bulgaria's capital and largest city, is expected to be hotly contested and will result in a new mayor being elected, as incumbent mayorYordanka FandakovafromGERBhas announced she will not seek re-election.
Opinion polls for Mayor of Sofia
Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample | Vasil Terziev | Anton Hekimyan | Dean Nikolov | Vanya Grigorova | Vili Lilkov | Others | None of the above |
Lead | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PP | DB | SS | GERB | SDS | Revival | BSP | Levitsata! | |||||||
ЕСТАТ | 29.09-9.10 2023 | 800 | 27.8 | 18.7 | 20.6 | 6.4 | 7.2 | |||||||
CAM | 21–25 Jul 2023 | 1,212 | 33.4 | 22.7 | 12.0 | 10.6 | 4.8 | 7.9 | 2.7 | 10.7 |
Results[edit]
First round[edit]
![]() | This sectionneeds expansion.You can help byadding to it.(November 2023) |
According to Central Election Commission the number of people who voted on 29 October totaled 2,713,979 or 44.94% of eligible voters. The turnout was 49.76% in the 2019 local elections. The invalid ballots in the 29 October, 2023 elections totaled over half a million, including 412,711 ballots for municipal councilors, 94,195 for municipality mayor (down from 128,204 in 2019) and 34,235 for mayoralty mayor.[6]
In general,GERBhad the strongest showing throughout the country, although the party failed to make it to the second round in the capital.[7]
Second round[edit]
Overall,GERBwon 11 regional towns,PP–DBwon four, and theBulgarian Socialist partywon three. Of the largest four cities, PP-DB won in the capital (Sofia) andVarnawhile GERB won inPlovdivandBurgas.[8]
Sofia[edit]
References[edit]
- ^staff, The Sofia Globe (2023-07-31)."Bulgaria to hold 2023 municipal and mayoral elections on October 29".The Sofia Globe.Retrieved2023-08-03.
- ^"Bulgaria's President set a Date for this year's Local Elections - Novinite - Sofia News Agency".novinite.Retrieved2023-08-03.
- ^"Местни избори 2019: Права и задължения".bgnes.2019-09-27.Retrieved2019-10-24.
- ^"Конституционният съд отмени санкцията за задължителното гласуване - България".dariknews.bg(in Bulgarian).Retrieved2019-10-21.
- ^"Централна избирателна комисия - Често Задавани Въпроси".cik.bg.Retrieved2019-10-24.
- ^https:// bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/560753-over-2-7-million-voters-and-half-million-invalid-ballots-in-oct-29-elections
- ^Service, RFE/RL's Bulgarian."Pro-West Grouping Looks Set To Win Sofia Mayoral Race, While GERB Strong Elsewhere".RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.Retrieved2023-11-06.
- ^"BSP may challenge Sofia mayoral election results in court".bnr.bg.Retrieved2023-11-06.