The politics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The National Movement for Stability and Progress is a liberal, populist political party in Bulgaria. It was known as the National Movement Simeon II until 3 June 2007.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party, also known as The Centenarian, is a centre-left, social democratic political party in Bulgaria. The BSP is a member of the Socialist International, Party of European Socialists, and Progressive Alliance. Although founded in 1990 in its modern form, it traces its political heritage back to the founding of the BRSDP in 1891. It is also Bulgaria's largest party by membership numbers.
Petar Stefanov Stoyanov is a Bulgarian politician who served as President of Bulgaria from 1997 to 2002. A member of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), he was the party's nominee to succeed one-term president Zhelyu Zhelev in 1996. He was elected to the Presidency in 1996, but lost his reelection bid in 2001. Following a brief retirement from politics, he became an MP in 2005 and later Chairman of UDF from 1 October 2005 to 22 May 2007. He resigned following the 2007 European Parliament election.
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is a centrist political party in Bulgaria with a support base among ethnic minority communities.
The Union of Democratic Forces is a political party in Bulgaria, founded in 1989 as a union of several political organizations in opposition to the communist government. The Union was transformed into a single unified party with the same name. The SDS is a member of the European People's Party (EPP). In the 1990s the party had the largest membership in the country, with one million members, but has since splintered into a number of small parties totaling no more than 40,000 members. The SDS proper had 12,000 members in 2016.
Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who is serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). He previously served as President of the Party of European Socialists from November 2011 to October 2022, Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009, Leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party from 2001 to 2014 and Member of the National Assembly from 1997 to 2014.
The history of Bulgaria from 1990 to the present is the period of Bulgarian history that begins after the fall of Communism and the transition to a market economy.
The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history. An additional 18 observers were pre-elected.
GERB, an acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, is a conservative populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria during the periods between 2009–2013 and 2017–2021.
The eighty-ninth cabinet of Bulgaria, also known as the Three-party coalition cabinet and the Stanishev Government, ruled from August 17, 2005, to July 27, 2009. The cabinet was formed with the coalition of the three leading at that time: BSP, NDSV and DPS, in order of their parliamentary representation. Their parliamentary representation also determined the number of cabinet appointments.
The election of the delegation from Bulgaria to the European Parliament was held on Sunday, 7 June 2009. As a result of the Treaty of Nice – that became active in November 2004 – the number of Bulgarian delegates in the European Parliament decreased from 18 to 17 delegates. When the Treaty of Lisbon was ratified, the number of Bulgarian Delegates increased to 18 again, giving a second seat to the Blue Coalition.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 July 2009. With 40% of the vote, the decisive winner of the elections was the established in 2006 personalistic party of Boyko Borisov, GERB. The Socialist Party, in power before the election, was in second place, with around 18%. Оnce-ruling National Movement Simeon II did not cross the 4% threshold and won no seats. The turnout was 60.6%, one of the lowest ever. Following the election, GERB leader Boyko Borisov became Prime Minister. Just like all the previous parliamentary elections since the fall of communism, the government was not re-elected.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 12 May 2013, two months ahead of schedule. Protests had forced the resignation of the GERB government in February, leading to the election being moved up.
An election of the Members of the European Parliament from Bulgaria to the European Parliament was held on 25 May 2014 as part of the larger European Parliament election. After a decision by the European Council in 2013, Bulgaria was allocated 17 seats in the European Parliament for the Eighth European Parliament.
Mihail Raykov Mikov is a Bulgarian politician who was Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) from 2014 to 2016. He is a parliamentarian with six consecutive terms as a deputy in the National Assembly. His career in the legislature culminated in his election as Chairman of the 42nd National Assembly on May 21, 2013. Mikov was Minister of Interior from 24 April 2008 to 29 July 2009 in Sergei Stanishev's government. Currently he is the leader of the Parliamentary Group of BSP Left Bulgaria in the 43rd National Assembly, the coalition led by the socialist party. Mihail Mikov was elected as Chairman of the BSP on 27 July 2014, succeeding Sergei Stanishev. He won a run-off against outgoing Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev with a final tally of 377-333.
The Reformist Bloc was a centre-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria.
The first round of the local elections for mayors and municipal councilors on both the local and provincial level in Bulgaria were held on 27 October 2019. The second round of the election took place on 3 November, as per the decree signed by the President of Bulgaria. 6,227,901 Bulgarians were included on the voter lists and were eligible to vote, a 136,000 voter reduction compared to the 2015 local elections.
General elections were held in Bulgaria on 14 November 2021 to elect both the President and the National Assembly. They were the country's third parliamentary elections in 2021, with no party able to form a government after the elections in April and July. A second round of the presidential elections were held on 21 November 2021 as no candidate was able to receive a majority of the vote in the first round.
We Continue the Change, sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and formerly an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, two former caretaker ministers. It was founded ahead of the November 2021 election. The party was officially registered on 15 April.
