The results of the Bulgarian EP elections

The official results of the European elections have been finally announced. As for a Balkan country there were complaints for vote rigging, buying and selling of votes, vote recount was requested but turned down by the Central Electoral Commission that administers the elections.

If we try to be more positive, the turnout was higher - up good 10% from 28,9% in 2007 to 38,9% now which means 650 000 more people bothered to go vote. It was raining heavily back in 2007 and many people blamed that for the low turnout while this time the sun was shining. Of course the increased polarization of the Bulgarian society due to the upcoming parliamentary elections also contributed.

So, who won and who lost in the Bulgarian EP elections?

The populist GERB (EPP) retained the first place from two years ago, the socialists came second again (although by a bigger margin), while the party of the Turkish minority in Bulgaria DPS was again third. The nationalists of ATAKA were fourth. NDSV and the Blue coalition contested the fifth place with just 361 votes separating them on the finish. What does that mean in mandates?

The electoral formula used for the European elections in Bulgaria is that of the largest remainder (Hare-Niemeyer). The system does not have a bias in favor of the big parties so the distribution of mandates is seen as fair. As a largest party GERB got 5 mandates, BSP - 4, DPS - 3. The nationalists of ATAKA will have two representatives in the European parliament, NDSV also two and the Blue coalition - one. However if and when the Lisbon treaty comes into force the 18th Bulgarian mandate will go to the Blue coalition.


That's how the distribution looks like according to European party affiliation:

GERB and the Blue coalition are EPP members, BSP is the PES representative in Bulgaria, NDSV are part of the ALDE group, while ATAKA were briefly part of the nationalist "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty" group in the EP before it dissolved. The Turkish minority party also claims to be liberal which is ridiculous when you think about it but they are also ALDE members.

The European elections in Bulgaria were unlucky to come just a month before the national ones so the debate never came really European and already on election night everybody was analyzing what the results mean in national perspective. However, there are a few positive tendencies. First of all, the turnout was substantially higher than in 2007. Secondly, the traditional center-right parties managed to achieve representation which was not the case two years ago so all the segments of Bulgarian society will have their say in Strasbourg. Thirdly, I'd like to think people know little bit more about the European Parliament does - it was the second such elections and much more European information campaigns targeted society. The higher turnout may be one of the signs that worked. Elections'2009 good bye, 2013 - here we come!

"The Lisbon treaty would give Brussels more control over Bulgaria's unconsolidated democracy" says Boris Stanimirov of the Blue coalition

Boris Stanimirov was born in 1976 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He holds a Bachelor degree in molecular biology for the University of Sofia. Specialized in political science in the New Bulgarian University. Boris Stanimirov is vice-president of the European Young Conservatives under the patronage of Margaret Thatcher. Speaks four languages. Married with two kids – a boy and a girl.

Q: What direction should the EU take - towards United States of Europe or towards Europe of the Nations?

A: As far as the federalist project for Europe is connected to the Lisbon treaty, this is the vision that benefits Bulgaria more. Because on one side it gives Bulgaria more seats in the European Parliament and on the other - gives Brussels more control over Bulgaria's unconsolidated democracy. It has to be mentioned though, that Europe of the Nations also has good sides.

Q: What’s your opinion on the issue of enlargement? Should the Western Balkans and Turkey join the union and when?

A: The important topics for Bulgaria regarding enlargement concern Macedonia and Turkey. Turkey is quite big in terms of size and population. If she does not meet the membership standards she can destabilize the whole European Union. If small Bulgaria simply scandalized Europe with some internal problems then 70-million Turkey could destabilize and literally torpedo the European institutions. As far as Macedonia is concerned, Bulgaria was the first country to recognize its independence. I hope Bulgaria will also be the first to welcome Macedonia as a new EU member as soon as the country settles the disputes with its neighbors and adopts a truly European position towards Bulgaria.

Q: What should be the priorities of the Bulgarian membership in the EU?

A: Unfortunately, the first priority should be the restoration of trust in Bulgaria which was forfeited. Then the unfreezing of European funds for the country - almost 6 bn. Euros until 2013. Our ambition is to make that happen by the end of the year.

Q: What would be your personal priorities if you would become a Bulgarian representative in the European Parliament?

A: My personal priority would be that Bulgaria becomes home of all ethnic Bulgarians in the world. There are traditional Bulgarian communities in Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova which should have their European perspective. They should feel the support of European Bulgaria. That's our national ideal and a legacy of our ancestors. Bulgaria has never had an instrument to fulfill it as its European membership now.

Boris Stanimirov is seventh on the Blue Coalition’s list for the European Parliament elections.

P.S. The interview has been made with the assistance of the Bulgarian National Television.

"Turkey should never join the EU" - how the Bulgarian nationalists motivate their view

Nikola Rachev was born on Sept. 19, 1983 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He studies medicine at the Medical university in Sofia. Speaks English, Spanish and Russian. Nikola has been a member of political party "Ataka"'s youth organization for three years. His hobby - sports. Nikola likes to read historical literature. I interviewed Nikola on his view of Europe and the Bulgarian membership in the EU.

Q: What direction should the EU take - towards United States of Europe or towards Europe of the Nations?

A: I think the EU should implement the "Europe of the Nations" project. This way the national identity of Bulgaria will be preserved - something that "Ataka" is standing for.

Q: What's your opinion on the issue of enlargement? Should the Western Balkans and Turkey join the union and when?

A: Never. We should say "No" to the Turkish accession in the European Union. As we know Turkey is a descendent of the Othoman Empire and its values and religion are completely incompatible with the European ones. Turkey would never work in European interest. Besides, if Turkey becomes an EU member that would allow many Turkish citizens to come and vote on the Bulgarian parliamentary and European elections.

Q: What should be the priorities of the Bulgarian membership in the EU?

A: The main priorities are four. Firstly, the reopening of the closed reactors of the Bulgarian nuclear power plant "Kozludui". As we well know their closing was not a necessary condidtion for our EU accession. Secondly, I think the (agricultural) production quotas should be abolished or at least raised. The current quotas for Bulgaria are too low. Thirdly, the European social legislation should be applied in Bulgaria and last but not least - the EU should not interfere in national religious issues.

Q: What would be your personal priorities if you would become a Bulgarian representative in the European Parliament?

A: If I am elected my main priority would be to study the European health system in the different member states and try to apply it in Bulgaria as currently the Bulgarian health system does not work for the patients best interests.

Nikola Rachev is seventh on "Ataka"'s list for the European Parliament elections.


P.S. The interview has been made with the assistance of the Bulgarian National Television.

Domestic heavyweights enter election battle

The deadline for registering party lists for the European elections in Bulgaria passed this Friday (May 15th). Some of the major parties waited to the last moment before announcing their candidates, obviously hoping to surprise their opponents. Some surprises did occur, especially regarding the names of the people leading the lists.

With the Bulgarian parliamentary elections coming up in less than two months (to be held on July 5th), Bulgarian parties are eager to prove themselves on the European elections and thus further motivate their electorate for the national vote. That led to the introduction of some "domestic heavyweights" in the electoral battle.

The biggest surprise was the appearance of the Bulgarian foreign minister Ivaylo Kalfin on the No.1 spot in the list of the Socialist Party.


Mr. Kalfin is not even a member of the Socialist party which sparked some internal debate among party officials but since he enjoyed the backing of the current prime minister (and party leader) his candidacy was officially announced on Friday. Ivaylo Kalfin has a background in international economic relations and international banking before becoming an MP in 1994, presidential advisor in 2002 and subsequently - foreign minister in 2005.

Not so surprisingly came another high-profile candidacy - that of the present European commissioner Meglena Kuneva.


Ms. Kuneva's name was mentioned as a possible top-candidate of the list of the Bulgarian liberals for quite some time and the party made it official ahead of the registration deadline. Nicknamed “Ms. Yes” during Bulgaria’s accession negotiations with the EU, she became a Commissioner in 2007 when the country finally joined the union. Commisionner of the Year in 2008. Rumor has it she will not become an MEP even if elected but give way to the next in the party list. Her chances of retaining the commissioner post are rather slim as the party that backs her - NDSV has a quite low electoral support of 2-6% of the people.

The center-right "Blue coalition" is also fielding a prominent figure - the former foreign minister Nadejda Mihaylova.


Ms. Mihaylova was Bulgarian foreign minister between 1997 and 2001. During that period she had to handle the Kosovo conflict and the start of the Bulgarian negotiations for EU accession. Vice-president of the European People's Party between 1999 and 2006. The polls predict the "Blue coalition" could claim one or two of the 17 Bulgarian seats in the EP so she would most probably continue her political carrier as an MEP.

The other parties chose not to field their best soldiers in this battle and keep them for the national vote or simply were not able to find such candidates. The populist GERB (now with 5 MEPs) and the Turkish-minority party DPS ( with 4) chose sitting MEPs to head their lists.



GERB's Rumyana Zheleva has been connected to the post of future European commissioner for quite some time now, although no official statement on the topic has been released by the party. Ms. Zheleva has been in the consultancy sector before becoming an MEP in 2007.

The overall look of the candidates shows that Bulgarian parties take these elections more seriosly than the first time when Bulgaria had to elect its MEPs in 2007. Two years ago the top candidates were mostly young party officials, now we see an acting and former foreign minister, accompanied by a European commissioner. The main reason behind that is most probably the fact that everybody (voters, parties, experts) see the European elections merely as a first round to the national ones. Understandably all actors want to do well. In any case the higher profile of candidates and the increased politicization of society should result in a higher turnout. Due to the two year work of current MEPs Bulgarian society is slightly more informed about what the European Parliament is about. In this sense these elections will be more European and should produce a more legitimate result than the 2007 ones.

Libertas branch in Bulgaria denied EP election registration

Coalition "Libertas-free citizens" have been denied registration for the European Parliament elections by the Bulgarian Central Electoral Commission. The coalition submitted its documents for registration yesterday (May 13th) just minutes before the registration deadline. However, according to Commission officials the set of documents was missing an important piece - a bank order proving the payment of the deposit for participation in the elections. Instead, there was a note saying that the deposit of 100 000 Bulgarian leva (~50 000 EUR) could be paid only by the "oligarchs".

Mr. Ganley's Libertas won't get any MEPs from Bulgaria. Photo: dailylife.com

The issue of the electoral deposit was also raised by the "Greens" in Bulgaria who claimed the raised requirements (from 15 to 50 thousand leva for parties and from 20 to 100 thousand for coalitions) hinders democracy and is aimed at stopping civic formations from breaking the political status-quo. Most European countries do not require deposits for election participation while some apply symbolically low financial thresholds. Still, unlike the Libertas branch, the "Greens" managed to raise enough donations and registered for the elections yesterday. If they manage to get more than 1% of the vote they will get their money back.

The Electoral Commission registered 3 coalitions and 10 political parties which will contest the 17 Bulgarian seats in the next European Parliament.

And the new President of the European Parliament is … or how a news was created

The Bulgarian elections for European Parliament will be held on 7th June - now the date is officially set. Bulgaria will elect 17 MEPs, one down from the 2007 mid-term elections. The electoral system is proportional with a barrier set at the so-called electoral quota which is 100%/17 (number of mandates)= 5,88% of the votes. Judging by the previous elections when just under 2 mln. people exercised their right to vote that would mean a party would need around 120, 000 votes to pass the threshold and get an MEP candidate elected.

120, 000 in a country of 7.5 mln. is a lot and it is not. It is a lot because people don’t show big interest in European elections and it is not because a good campaign with popular candidates can raise the public support needed. After all, 120, 000 is the size of an average neighbourhood in the capital Sofia ( 2 mln. inhabitants).

Probably led by similar considerations current Bulgarian MEPs and candidates are quite active in public discussions these days. Of course, the present representatives are keen on keeping their seat and the lower number of mandates for distribution will just make that task harder.

The discussion I visited this week was organized by the New Bulgarian University. The participants included the current MEPs Nickolay Mladenov (GERB) and Iliana Iotova (BSP) as well as MEP candidates Plamen Tsvetkov and Youseff Dakak (DSB), Atanas Shterev and Plamen Panayotov (BND). The discussion went in the usual constructive tone with the candidates trying to put focus on European, rather than national issues. One of the hot issues appeared to be the proposed ban on the import of seal products in the EU. The public as well as some of the candidates appeared to be quite informed on the topic and agreed on the need of such a ban.

As a blogger I felt I needed to ask a few questions that will spark a discussion. What personally concerned me (as a EU voter) was the de-facto permanent coalition between the two largest EP factions - EPP and PES which allows them to share the post of President and the vast share of commission seats in Parliament. So I asked the candidates how would they motivate me to vote for either of these if my vote would practically not make a difference.

Since the PES representative Mrs. Iotova had already left the discussion at that point I got an answer from the EPP group member Mr. Mladenov. He pointed the fact that EPP has elected the Parliament President with the help of the liberals in the past and promised that the new president will be an EPP representative and also … Polish. It remained unclear who will hold the presidency during the second 2,5 year term of the next parliament (probably again a PES representative) but at least a news was announced. The list of current Polish MEPs is here so pick your favorite. Just keep in mind he/she should be from the EPP

Jerzy Buzek - MEP from Civic Platform (member of the EPP), ex-prime minister of Poland, elected to the EP with the highest number of votes in the country.

“The Bold and the Beautiful” or how the list of the Bulgarian liberals for the European elections looks like …

The nominations for the European list of the Bulgarian liberals (NDSV) were announced last week. The nominated are mainly women with high profile in politics, among them ministers, members of parliament and the Bulgarian commissioner Meglena Kuneva. Let's see who exactly got nominated to take a shot at an MEP post.

First, there's the present party MEP Bilyana Raeva.

Ms. Raeva has worked in the public administration before being surprisingly nominated to lead the NDSV list for the 2007 European elections in Bulgaria and subsequently become the party's representative in the European parliament. What not many people know about Bilyana Raeva is that besides being an A student she was also a republican skateboard champion at school.

Second comes the lady who also came second in 2007.

Antonia Parvanova came just short of replacing Bilyana Raeva as NSDV's only MEP - she needed just 5000 more voter preferences to come on top of the liberal list. Ms. Parvanova is a member of the Bulgarian Parliament now, serving her second term and medic by education.

The next in line is the Bulgarian European Affairs minister - Gergana Grancharova.

Just a week ago Gergana Grancharova married the former foreign minister Solomon Passi and changed her last name respectively. She's been European Affairs minister since her predecessor Meglena Kuneva was appointment to be the first European Commissioner from Bulgaria in 2007.

Last but not least in this line of nominations comes Meglena Kuneva.

If the other three candidacies could be grouped under the nickname "The Beautiful" then Ms. Kuneva comes to represent "The Bold". Nicknamed "Ms. Yes" during Bulgaria's accession negotiations with the EU, she became a Commissioner in 2007 when the country finally joined the union. Rumor has it, she will be offered the first position in the party list for the European elections in June.

The funny thing is not too many men names were mentioned when the nominations became known, but hey, who needs men when and if such a list is put together? The only risk is that voters might think it's all about a beauty pageant and not elections at stake. It will be up to the candidates to avoid blending the EU issues with the race for the crown in such a list.

P.S. To stop any speculations from the very beginning - I am NOT planning to vote for the liberals.

European elections - terms of use

Here’s a funny fact for you - did you know how the European elections could be used to serve the short-term strategies of political parties? I don’t mean the conventional pursuit of seats, representation and results for boosting the morals of party supporters.

In the country I know best, which also happens to be the poorest and officially most corrupt in the EU, parties are currently bargaining on the exact election date and the possible setting of national and European Parliament elections at the same time. Holding two different elections at the same date is not unfamiliar to the European political practice but in this case it would not be possible without a change in the Bulgarian Constitution. That requires a two-third majority in the National Assembly so the table is open for bargaining.

The thing is that the Bulgarian liberals believe they are perceived by the public as a strong pro-European party and holding the two elections at the same date will boost their national result two. On the contrary, their coalition partners - the socialists and the Turkish-minority party would like to avoid that option. They count on a low turnout (should the European elections are held separetely) and on their disciplined electorate to carry the majority of the European Parliament mandates. It seems that in this situation the European policies and EU-wide issues are the last thing that will decide the outcome of the European elections in Bulgaria. Any similar experiences in the other member-states?