2023 Bulgarian local elections
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Local elections in Bulgaria were held on 29 October 2023.[1] Mayors and municipal councillors across the country were elected.[2]
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The elections to Bulgaria's municipal councils are conducted via proportional representation with an open list preferential voting system.
The mayoral elections take place within the context of a majoritarian two-round system. The first round of the elections will be held on 29 October. If no candidate in a given constituency manages to gain 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held for that constituency in the second round on 5 November.[3]
Voting is officially mandatory, but in practice there is no punishment for failing to vote and the law itself isn't strictly enforced.[4]
Voters further have the option to vote against all proposed candidates.[5]
Local parties & coalitions
| Name | Location | Ideology | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader(s) | |||||
| Unification for Plovdiv | Bulgarian Cause | Plovdiv | Local politics | Georgi Tityukov | |
| New Leaders | Plovdiv | Local politics Direct democracy | |||
| RzSR | Development for Septemvri and the Region | Septemvri | Local politics | Radoslav Lyutakov | |
| SzP | Union for Plovdiv | Plovdiv | Local politics Liberal conservatism |
Yevelin Paraskov Veselin Kozarev | |
| BzR | Future of the Motherland | Stara Zagora | Local politics | Stanislav Popov | |
| DzPP | Movement for the Prosperity of Pernik | Pernik | Local politics | Stanislav Vladimirov | |
| SS | Spasi Sofia | Sofia | Local politics Anti-corruption |
Boris Bonev [bg] | |
| MORE | More | Nesebar | Local politics Rural interests |
Peycho Kolev | |
The election for the position of Mayor of Sofia, Bulgaria's capital and largest city, is expected to be hotly contested and will result in a new mayor being elected, as incumbent mayor Yordanka Fandakova from GERB has announced she will not seek re-election.
Opinion polls for Mayor of Sofia
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample | Vasil Terziev | Anton Hekimyan | Dean Nikolov | Vanya Grigorova | Vili Lilkov | Others | None of the above |
Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PP | DB | SS | GERB | SDS | Revival | BSP | Levitsata! | |||||||
| ЕСТАТ | 29.09-9.10 2023 | 800 | 27.8 | 18.7 | 20.6 | 6.4 | 7.2 | |||||||
| CAM | 21–25 Jul 2023 | 1,212 | 33.4 | 22.7 | 12.0 | 10.6 | 4.8 | 7.9 | 2.7 | 10.7 | ||||
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2023)
According to Central Election Commission the number of people who voted on 29 October totaled 2,713,979 or 44.94% of eligible voters. The turnout was 49.76% in the 2019 local elections. The invalid ballots in the 29 October, 2023 elections totaled over half a million, including 412,711 ballots for municipal councilors, 94,195 for municipality mayor (down from 128,204 in 2019) and 34,235 for mayoralty mayor.[6]
In general, GERB had the strongest showing throughout the country, although the party failed to make it to the second round in the capital.[7]
Overall, GERB won 11 regional towns, PP–DB won four, and the Bulgarian Socialist party won three. Of the largest four cities, PP-DB won in the capital (Sofia) and Varna while GERB won in Plovdiv and Burgas.[8]
| Popular vote (Sofia City Council) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| We Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria | 34.3% | |||
| GERB-UDF | 19.9% | |||
| Bulgarian Socialist Party-Levitsata! | 13.9% | |||
| Revival | 11.1% | |||
| Blue Sofia-KOD | 4.7% | |||
| ITN | 4.5% | |||
| VMRO | 1.8% | |||
| Others | 9.8% | |||
| Popular vote (Mayor of Sofia) - First Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vasil Terziev | 31.8% | |||
| Vanya Grigorova | 21.6% | |||
| Anton Hekimyan | 17.8% | |||
| Dean Nikolov | 7.7% | |||
| Vili Lilkov | 5.7% | |||
| Ivaylo Valchev | 3.2% | |||
| Radostin Vassilev | 2.5% | |||
| Others | 9.7% | |||
| Popular vote (Mayor of Sofia) - Second Round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vasil Terziev | 48.2% | |||
| Vanya Grigorova | 46.9% | |||
| Against all | 4.9% | |||
- ^ staff, The Sofia Globe (2023-07-31). "Bulgaria to hold 2023 municipal and mayoral elections on October 29". The Sofia Globe. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- ^ "Bulgaria's President set a Date for this year's Local Elections - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". www.novinite.com. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- ^ "Местни избори 2019: Права и задължения". bgnes. 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "Конституционният съд отмени санкцията за задължителното гласуване - България". dariknews.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Централна избирателна комисия - Често Задавани Въпроси". www.cik.bg. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ https://www.bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/560753-over-2-7-million-voters-and-half-million-invalid-ballots-in-oct-29-elections
- ^ Service, RFE/RL's Bulgarian. "Pro-West Grouping Looks Set To Win Sofia Mayoral Race, While GERB Strong Elsewhere". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
- ^ "BSP may challenge Sofia mayoral election results in court". bnr.bg. Retrieved 2023-11-06.