Bulgaria - Parliamentary Elections - april 2023
Bulgaria continued to be gripped by a grim political reality: The EU's poorest member, still struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, faced another snap parliamentary poll on 02 April 2023, the fifth such vote in two years. On 02 February 2023, President Rumen Radev dissolved parliament and announced the date for the April snap poll after six attempts to form a government had failed since last July. The chances that this poll could end the political stalemate could be low. An Alpha Research survey published on March 1 found that Petkov's We Continue The Change party and its coalition partners were leading with about 26.4 percent, just one percentage point ahead of the GERB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and its coalition partner, the Union of Democratic Forces.
The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected for a four-year term, under a proportional representation system in 31 multi-member constituencies (MMCs), with 26 MMCs corresponding to the administrative districts and the remaining five MMCs, in Sofia and Plovdiv, defined before each parliamentary election.4 The number of seats in each MMC is based on the last census but must comprise at least four seats. For these elections, the seats were reallocated between constituencies based on the most recent census, improving equality of the vote and addressing a prior ODIHR recommendation.5 Parties and coalitions are eligible for seat allocation if they obtain at least four per cent of the valid votes cast nationwide and abroad, while independent candidates must surpass the constituency quota.
Parliamentary elections are primarily governed by the 1991 Constitution, the 2014 Election Code and the 2005 Political Parties Act, supplemented by other relevant laws and the Central Election Commission (CEC) decisions. Bulgaria is also party to major international and regional instruments related to the holding of democratic elections.
The 02 April 2023 early parliamentary elections were competitive with fundamental freedoms respected, and well managed by the election administration. The campaign was moderate, with considerable presence on social media, and generally perceived as a continuation of almost two-year-long campaign activities. The campaign tone was calm overall, but instances of racist, xenophobic and anti-Roma rhetoric were noted and reacted to by the authorities.
While the legal framework is adequate for the conduct of democratic elections, frequent changes erode trust, undercut efficiency and pose challenges to timely preparations. In particular, controversial legal amendments, reducing the use of voting machines, reignited concerns about the secrecy and integrity of the ballot and undue influence on voters in socially vulnerable communities. The numerous contestants were able to campaign freely, though overall campaign environment was marked by voters’ fatigue, and persisting allegations of vote-buying and controlled voting. The media offered diverse and extensive coverage which allowed voters to hear a plurality of views, however, it remained susceptible to political and corporate influences that reduced critical reporting.
The legal framework provides an overall adequate foundation for the conduct of democratic elections. The December 2022 amendments to the Election Code, which re-introduced the option of voting by paper ballot, did not enjoy broad political consensus and were adopted with little consultation with stakeholders, at odds with international good practice.
Candidate registration process was generally inclusive. Citizens holding dual citizenship were not eligible to stand, not in line with the case law of ECtHR, contrary to a previous ODIHR recommendation and international good practice. These elections were contested by 4,566 candidates, on 652 registered candidate lists.
Contestants were able to conduct their campaigns freely and without hindrance, and fundamental freedoms of assembly and expression were generally respected. The campaign was moderate, with considerable presence on social media, and generally perceived as a continuation of almost two-yearlong campaign activities. Persistent allegations of vote-buying and controlled voting, as well as instances of mayors’ involvement in the campaign negatively affected the level playing field and the voters’ ability to cast their ballot freely, at odds with OSCE commitments and other international standards.
The diverse media environment operates in a constrained advertising market, and challenges to its viability expose media outlets to political and financial influence, which may result in self-censorship of critical coverage. Defamation remains a criminal offence, and coupled with disproportionate fines has potentially negative effects on investigative reporting on issues of public interest. Election campaign was extensively covered by the media, granting direct access to all political competitors, mostly abiding by the law, and allowing voters to hear a plurality of views.
The monitored private broadcasters exhibited greater fluidity in their election coverage. Nova TV and bTV provided wide coverage of political contestants in a variety of formats, which included debates with representatives of parliamentary parties and leading competitors, as well as interviews with party representatives, though mostly aired outside of prime time.69 The newscasts of Nova TV, bTV and Darik scarcely covered election campaign events, yet reported impartially on political issues, mainly hearing from parliamentary parties.70 All monitored broadcasters extensively reported on election preparation and voter information. With political parties deciding on their representatives in the debates, women candidates were overall underrepresented, accentuating gender inequality in political life.
Nevertheless, strict rules on the equal participation of contestants reduced editorial content and journalistic intermediary role of the public broadcasters, used by political parties as vehicles to disseminate their electoral messages. Under a higher degree of editorial freedom, private media provided a more diverse coverage, albeit mainly positioned in non-prime time hours. Women candidates were underrepresented in televised debates, reflecting gender inequality in political life.
Bulgaria has long had a reputation as one of southeastern Europe's worst defenders of media freedoms. It ranked 91st out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2022 World Press Freedom Index, a jump of 21 spots from the previous ranking. Amid complaints from the public, the Central Election Commission has sprung into action, dishing out fines to candidates who call for violence, perform Nazi salutes, or other violations.
Voters turning to Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) -- both state-funded media behemoths -- were ill served. Even the head of BNT, Emil Koshlukov, admitted publicly that the preelection debates were largely nothing more than "parody," and even apologized to viewers and TV presenters for being forced to listen to "outright nonsense." Opening the doors of state-run media to all politicians dates back to early 2021, when deputies of the populist There Is Such A People (ITN) party, founded by Slavi Trifonov, a TV host and singer, advocated -- and succeeded in passing -- changes to the country's election laws. Specifically, changes to Article 189 of the election law inserted language that all registered parties "have the right to equal participation" in campaign coverage by BNT and BNR.
On 15 May 2023, Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev asked the coalition formed by Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), the largest political forces in the new Parliament, to form a new government. Radev handed the exploratory mandate to Mariya Gabriel, the GERB-UDF's nominee for prime minister. Gabriel, who is currently the European commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, has seven days to propose a government that needs to be approved by Parliament in a simple majority vote.
"I want to assure you that I will do everything possible within the framework of this exploratory mandate for Bulgaria to have a stable, working, regular government," said Gabriel, whose coalition has 69 seats in the 240-member Parliament. "You realize that many obstacles are ahead of you," President Radev told Gabriel, wishing her success.
Should the largest political force fail to form a government, the president shall entrust this task to a prime minister-designate nominated by the second-largest parliamentary group.If the prime minister fails to form a government either, the president will entrust the task to a prime minister appointed by one of the minority parliamentary groups. And if no agreement is reached on the formation of a government, the president will call new parliamentary elections.
In the April snap elections, the "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB) coalition won 64 seats, followed by the Revival party with 37 seats, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 36 seats, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) coalition with 23 seats, and the "There Is Such A People" (ITN) party with 11 seats. This was Bulgaria's fifth parliamentary election in two years. Three of the previous four Parliaments had to be dissolved. A cabinet was formed after the elections held on Nov. 14, 2021, but it was ousted by a no-confidence vote in June 2022.
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