Local elections day in Bulgaria

published on 10/29/23 7:05 AM

Photo: BTA

Today, 29 October, Bulgaria holds the first round of regular elections for mayors and municipal councillors in a total of 265 municipalities. These elections are seen as a test of the country's governance. The coalition partners in the Cabinet and Parliament - GERB-SDS and We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria - are rivals, as the results could lead to a change in the balance of the ruling majority before the upcoming rotation of Prime Minister in the "Nikolay Denkov-Mariya Gabriel" Cabinet in March 2024.

Who is voting today and what are they voting for?

The right to vote for municipal councillors and mayors is open to citizens over the age of 18 who are currently registered at their permanent address on the territory of the country on the day of the election, with at least one of the addresses being on the territory of the municipality concerned and, in the case of mayoral elections, on the territory of the respective settlement.
EU citizens who are not Bulgarian citizens but who have long-term or permanent residence status in Bulgaria and who have lived in the settlement for at least the last six months and have a registered address there are also eligible to vote. Mayoral elections are held in settlements where more than 100 people are registered with a permanent address.

58 parties and 9 coalitions are registered with the Central Electoral Commission to take part in the elections, as are over 8 000 candidates for mayors of municipalities, town halls and districts, and over 30 000 candidates for general elections.

Duration of polling day

Election day begins at 07:00 and ends at 20:00. If there are people waiting outside polling stations after this time, voting may be extended until 21:00.
Campaigning and pre-announcement of results are prohibited on polling day. The polling stations announce the estimated results at the end of polling day, after 20:00.

Run-off elections

According to the polls, a second round of voting is expected to take place on 5 November in places where none of the mayoral candidates has received more than 50% of the actual votes cast. The two mayoral candidates with the highest scores in the first round will go through to the run-off.