site.btaMay 20, 2007: Bulgaria Holds Its First European Parliament Elections

Five months after officially becoming an EU Member State on January 1, 2007, Bulgaria conducted its first European Parliament Elections on May 20. Еlections were also held in Romania on November 25 that same year.

The voter turnout in Bulgaria's first European elections was 28.6%. A total of 14 parties and coalitions, as well as two independent candidates, registered to participate in the elections in Bulgaria. The results were in on May 23 and the 18 MEP seats at the time went to GERB (5), the Bulgarian Socialist Party (5) The Movement for Righs and Freedoms (4), Ataka (3), and the Simeon II National Movement (1). 

In the 2007-2009 period, Bulgaria had 18 MEPs, in 2009-2011 the country had 17, in 2011-2014 the number was 18 again and currently Bulgaria holds 17 MEP seats in the European Parliament. 

European Parliament then-president Hans-Gert Pottering said that this was an important day for Bulgaria, as after officially becoming a member of the EU on January 1, the country’s first European еlections marked the completion of the integration of Bulgaria into the EU family.

Following is the European elections story in BTA's English-language service on May 20, 2007:

Bulgaria Holds Its First European Parliament Elections

On Sunday, Bulgaria holds its first ever direct elections to the European Parliament (EP). Because Bulgaria joined the EU halfway through the 2004-2009 life of the incumbent EP, the 18 Bulgarian MEPs will serve out the rest of the term, until June 2009.

Bulgaria in the European Parliament: Timeline

2006

July 7: EP votes, 360-79 with 125 abstentions, to invite 18 Bulgarian and 35 Romanian lawmakers to attend all EP sessions in observer capacity as from September 26, 2006 until two countries become full members.

August 26: National Assembly elects 18 Bulgarian observers in EP: six of Coalition for Bulgaria, four of  Simeon II National Movement, three of Movement for Rights and Freedoms, two of United Democratic Forces, and one each of Ataka, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and Bulgarian Popular Union.

December 20: Bulgaria's national Parliament elects 18 "temporary" MEPs, distributed among parliamentary groups in same proportion as observers:
- six MPs of Coalition for Bulgaria: Atanas Paparizov, Georgi Bliznashki, Evgeni Kirilov, Kristian Vigenin, Mladen Chervenyakov and Marusya Lyubcheva; they sit in Socialist Group in the European Parliament (PES);
- four MPs of Simeon II National Movement: Lydia Shouleva, Christina Christova, Stanimir Ilchev and Antonyia Parvanova; they sit in Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE);
- two MPs of United Democratic Forces:  Philip Dimitrov and Martin Dimitrov; they sit in Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats (EPP-ED);
- three MPs of Movement for Rights and Freedoms:  Filiz Hyusmenova, Nedzhmi Ali and Tchetin Kazak; they sit in ALDE;
- one MP of the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria: Konstantin Dimitrov; he sits in EPP-ED;
- one MP of Bulgarian Popular Union Parliamentary Group: Stefan Sofianski; he sits in EPP-ED.
- one MP of Ataka: Dimitar Stoyanov; he sits in Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty Group (ITS).
Thus, Bulgaria currently has seven MEPs in ALDE, six in PES, four in EPP-ED, and one in ITS.

2007

January 1: Bulgaria's EU Accession Treaty enters into force, stipulates that country should organize MEP elections before end of 2007.

January 15: Temporary MEPs welcomed at solemn ceremony to EP.

February 22: National Assembly passes Act on Election of Members of the European Parliament from the Republic of Bulgaria (effective as promulgated in "Official Gazette" on March 6, 2007).

March 7: Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov schedules elections for May 20.

March 13: President Purvanov appoints Central Election Commission for conduct of Bulgarian MEP elections.

March 25: Eleven thousand and five hundred voting sections formed across country.

March 26 - April 4: Eleven parties (Green Party, Union of Free Democrats, Order, Law and Justice Party, Democrats for Strong Bulgaria, Union of Democratic Forces, GERB, Simeon II National Movement, Ataka, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Communist Party of Bulgaria and Citizens Union for New Bulgaria) and three coalitions (Platform European Socialists, Coalition of Bulgarian Social Democrats and Agrarian National Union) register for entry in elections.

April 9: Final voter registers published. Eligible voters number 6,714,809; 260,838 stricken off registers because their declared current address is outside EU Member State, including 185,662 residents in Turkey.

April 14: Eleven party lists, three coalition lists and two independent candidates (Stefan Kondev and Velin Meledjiev), totalling 218 candidates, registered for MEP elections.

April 20 - May 18: Election campaign.

April 24: Publication of list of 17 non-Bulgarian EU citizens permanently resident in Bulgaria, entitled to vote in Bulgarian MEP elections: 12 Britons (resident in Hotnitsa Village near Veliko Turnovo, North Central Bulgaria), one Greek, one Lithuanian, one Pole, one Romanian, and one Czech.

May 4: Thirty-eight overseas voting sections in 35 cities of 29 countries formed, including all EU Member States with exception of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta, where there are no Bulgarian diplomatic missions, as well as in Afghanistan (Kabul), Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Iraq (Camp Ashraf), Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and Turkey, and in province of Kosovo (Pristina). There are four sections in Germany: two in Berlin, one in Munich and one in Bonn, three sections in France, three sections in Turkey (one in Ankara and two in Istanbul),  two sections in Serbia and two sections in Greece.

May 19: Day of reflection.

May 20: Election Day.

May 23: Declaration of results and reallocation of seats.

May 25: Official publication of list of 18 elected Bulgarian MEPs.

Electoral System

Voting: direct universal suffrage, not compulsory.

Voter qualifications:
- Bulgarian citizens aged 18 by election day, who have been resident in Bulgaria or in another EU Member State for at least 60 days of the last three months before election day, are not interdicted, do not serve a custodial sentence, and did not vote for members of the European Parliament in 2004;
- nationals of a EU Member State who are not Bulgarian citizens, aged 18 by election day, who have been allowed durable or permanent residence in Bulgaria, who have been resident in Bulgaria or in another EU Member State for at least 60 days of the last three months before election day, who are not disenfranchised in the Member State of their nationality, did not vote for members of the European Parliament in 2004, and have declared in advance in writing their wish to exercise their franchise within Bulgarian territory.

Candidate qualifications: Bulgarian citizens aged 21 by election day, with permanent address in Bulgaria, who have been permanently resident in Bulgaria or in another EU Member State for the last two years, do not hold the nationality of a non-member state, are not interdicted, and do not serve a custodial sentence.

Voting System: The country's territory is one multi-member constituency; semi-proportional system with a single transferable vote (voter may express a single preference on party list - to be elected, such a candidate must get more than 15 per cent of the valid votes for the relevant list); balloting: separate white ballots for each list; allocation of seats: by the largest remainder method (Hare/Niemeyer Method):  the number of seats to be filled is multiplied by the number of votes won by a party. The result of this calculation is divided by the total number of valid votes. This gives the number of seats to be allocated to the party.