1884 Bulgarian parliamentary election

1884 Bulgarian parliamentary election

←  1882 24 May 1884 1886  →

All 171 seats in the National Assembly 86 seats needed for a majority

Party Leader Seats +/– Hardline Liberals Petko Karavelov Petko Slaveykov 100 +100 Conservatives and Moderate Liberals Konstantin Stoilov Dragan Tsankov 71 +24 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Dragan Tsankov Tsankov III (Moderate Liberals + Conservatives) Petko Karavelov Karavelov II (Hardline Liberals)

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 27 May 1884 ^[1] to elect members of the IV Ordinary National Assembly. The result was a victory for the hardline liberals, which won 100 of the 171 seats. Voter turnout was 28.9%. ^[2] Further members were elected from Eastern Rumelia between 11 and 18 May 1886, ^[2] after it became part of Bulgaria in 1885.

Results

Several MPs were elected in more than one constituency and were required to choose which one to represent when the Assembly convened. By-elections were held on the 3rd of June. ^[3] The elected Assembly initially consisted of 10-15 conservatives and over 130 liberals. 130-140 Liberal MPs signed a party declaration against the conservative constitutional amendments, with roughly 90-100 hardliners and 30-40 moderates. Following the election there was a failed attempt to form a government with both liberal factions.

When the Assembly convened, the ruling moderate Liberals and Conservatives supported hardliner Stefan Stambolov for Chairman of Parliament, while the hardliners supported Petko Karavelov. The latter became Chariman with 99 to 66 votes, 5 MPs were absent. ^[4] Karavelov was elected as PM soon afterwards and Stambolov succeeded him as Chairman.

Party		Seats
	Liberal Party	100
	Conservatives and Moderate Liberals	71
Total		171
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

Aftermath

This was the last Bulgarian election held under the traditional divide between liberals and conservatives.

After Karavelov became PM, the moderate liberals and Russophile conservatives formally split into the Tsankovist Party. Karavelov's government oversaw Bulgaria's unification and the subsequent Serbo-Bulgarian War. The Stambolovist Liberals left the party in 1886. The government was overthrown in the 1886 coup, however the coup-backed government was only joined by Tsankovists and Karavelov returned as PM 3 days later following a counter-coup. His new interim government included Liberals, Stambolovists and members of the remaining pro-Austrian conservatives. Four days later Vasil Radoslavov became PM. New elections were called for a Grand National Assembly to elect a new monarch due to the abdication of Prince Alexander in the aftermath of the coup. ^[5]

References

1. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p368 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
2. Nohlen & Stöver, p369
3. Otechestvo newspaper , 2 June 1884
4. "Bulgarian chronicle", Tarnovska Konstitutsiya newspaper , 30 June 1884
5. "Политически партии, организации и движения в България и техните лидери" (in Bulgarian).