People in Bulgaria go to the polls for the early general election

Twenty-one parties and coalitions nominated candidates for the 240-member parliament in the election, which will be attended by some 6.6 million registered voters at home and abroad.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that ballot boxes will be installed at 12,000 points in the country and 738 points in 62 countries abroad. Bulgarian citizens living in Turkey will also be able to vote at 162 points. It will be possible to vote with a paper and machine compass.

The Home Office took extensive security measures due to the elections. The Ministry announced that the voting process started smoothly. According to polls carried out on the eve of the elections, at least 5 political parties will enter parliament surpassing the 4 percent threshold.

DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS IN PARLIAMENT

According to the latest poll by the opinion research company Trend, the coalition formed by the Bulgarian Democratic Party and the Continuing Change party with 26 percent of the vote, and another 26 percent from the European Union of Bulgaria, led by by one of the former prime ministers Boyko Borisov, who ruled the country for 12 years (until 2021), it is estimated that the Citizens for Development party will receive it. The Movement for Rights and Freedom party, whose members are mostly Turkish and Muslim, is expected to receive at least 13 percent of the vote, and is expected to become the third largest power in parliament.

Bulgarian immigrants living in Türkiye traditionally vote for this party.
The pro-Russian populist, anti-NATO/European Union Renaissance party is also estimated to receive about 13 percent of the vote.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party, which is also pro-Russian and pursues a similar policy to the former communist party, is expected to enter parliament with 7.3 percent of the vote.

Since the parties represented in the last four Bulgarian parliaments were unable to form a government, the country has been ruled by interim governments established by President Rumen Radev for 2 years. Turnout is expected to be around 40 percent. The polls will close at 20:00. (AA)