2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria

← 2009 25 May 2014 2019 →

All 17 Bulgarian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout35.84% Decrease [1]
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tomislav Donchev
Sergei Stanishev
Filiz Hyusmenova
Party GERB BSP DPS
Alliance EPP S&D
ALDE
Last election 5 seats, 24.36% 4 seats, 18.50% 3 seats, 14.14%
Seats won 6 4 4
Seat change Increase 1 Steady Increase 1
Popular vote 680,838 424,037 386,725
Percentage 30.40% 18.93% 17.26%
Swing Increase 6.04 Increase 0.44 Increase 3.12

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Nikolay Barekov Meglena Kuneva Volen Siderov
Party
VMRO
RB Ataka
Alliance ECR EPP NI
Last election 1 seat, 7.95% 2 seats, 11.96%
Seats won 2 1 0
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 1 Decrease 2
Popular vote 238,629 144,532 66,210
Percentage 10.66% 6.45% 2.96%
Swing New Decrease 1.50 Decrease 9.00

An election of the

Members of the European Parliament from Bulgaria to the European Parliament was held on 25 May 2014[2] 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.[3]

The election campaign officially began on 25 April 2014, one month before the election day.[4]

Background

The elections come a year after the 2013 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria that resulted in a minority parliament. Since the election winner, GERB, failed to form a government the Socialists and the DPS formed a coalition government led by Plamen Oresharski. The European elections of 2014 are considered to be of importance as they will reflect the popularity of the current government.

Changes in electoral law

In February 2014 Bulgarian MPs voted to lower the preferential-vote threshold for the election from 6% to 5% of each list's total votes.[5]

Implicit electoral threshold still remains equal to the Hare Quota, which is about 5.88% of the total valid votes.[6]

Opinion polls

Polls include Bulgarian parliamentary election polls if European parliamentary election polling numbers are unavailable.

Pre election campaign

Election campaign

Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc
BBT
NFSB
ABV Others Total
Institute for Modern Politics 26 April 2014 17.6% 15.9% 6.2% 2.5% 4.5% 4.9% 3.0% 4.5% 7.0% 66.1%
Sova Haris 28 April 2014 17.0% 19.2% 6.2% 2.3% 4.1% 5.5% 1.4% 2.3% 0.3% 58.3%
Center for Analysis and Marketing 30 April 2014 14.8% 13.3% 6.8% 1.7% 3.0% 2.7% 2.1% 0.7% 45.1%
Mediana 13 May 2014 17.1% 20.5% 7.3% 3.5% 4.3% 9.8% 3.6% 2.9% 69.0%
Institute for Modern Politics 13 May 2014 19.3% 20.5% 7.0% 4.5% 2.5% 7.5% 1.4% 3.5% 2.6% 68.8%
Exacta Research 19 May 2014 28.5% 24.0% 11.3% 4.1% 6.2% 11.1% 3.8% 5.8% 94.8%
Alpha Research 20 May 2014 27.3% 23.6% 13.4% 4.1% 5.9% 10.5% 3.9% 5.3% 94.0%
Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc
BBT
NFSB
ABV Others Total

Exit polls

Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc
BBT
NFSB
ABV Others Total
Mediana 25 May 2014 27.9% 20.2% 14.5% 7.3% 11.6% 81.5%
Alpha Research 25 May 2014 28.4% 21.6% 15.5% 6.8% 9.9% 82.2%
Gallup International 25 May 2014 28.6% 19.8% 14.9% 6.4% 11.1% 80.8%

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Libertas Bulgaria)
2,4990.110New
Independents21,2130.9500
Total2,239,430100.00170
Valid votes2,239,43094.81
Invalid/blank votes122,5365.19
Total votes2,361,966100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,599,59935.79
Source: CIK

Elected MEPs

The following 17 MEP were elected:[7]

European People's Party–European Democrats
– 7 seats:

  • GERB – 6 seats
  • RB Reformist Bloc – 1 seat
    • Svetoslav Malinov (second term as MEP) (according to preliminary info a majority of the voters have expressed their preference for the second candidate in the list – Malinov. Confirmed by the Central Electoral Commission)[8]

Party of European Socialists – 4 seats:

  • BSP Bulgarian Socialist Party – 4 seats
    • Momchil Nekov (Candidate No. 15 on the party list, but finished in first place after a surprising preference voting victory)
    • Sergei Stanishev
    • Iliana Yotova
      (third term as MEP)
    • Georgi Pirinski

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – 4 seats:

Declined:

European Conservatives and Reformists[10] – 2 seats

  • BBT Bulgaria Without Censorship (Electoral Alliance) – 2 seats
    • Bulgaria Without Censorship
      )
    • IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement
      )

Media expenses

According to a survey taken by the NGO Institute for Public Environment Development, the following table represents the media campaign expenses of the main parties:[11]

Party Spending (BGN) Spending per seat
Bulgaria Without Censorship
1,085,655 542,827.50
Bulgarian Socialist Party 740,000 185,000
Attack 648,000 Did not win any seats
Reformist Bloc 360,000 360,000
Movement for Rights and Freedoms 294,500 73,625
Alternative for Bulgarian Revival 229,318 Did not win any seats
GERB 133,271 22,211.80
  • Note: Campaign expenses were capped at BGN 2 million.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Results of the 2014 European elections - Results by country - Bulgaria - European Parliament".
  2. ^ "2014 European elections: national rules" (PDF). InfoGraphic European Parliamentary Research Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Bulgaria". European Parliament Online. European Parliament. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  4. ^ "Bulgarian President Calls for Clean Election Campaign". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Bulgarian MPs Agree on 5% Preferential-Vote Threshold for EP Elections". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  6. ^ "The 2009 European Parliament Elections: from Votes to Seats in 27 Ways" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  7. ^ "The New 17 Bulgarian Members of the European Parliament". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  8. ^ "Последни данни от ЦИК: ГЕРБ – 30.41%, Светослав Малинов ще е евродепутат". dnevnik.bg. Associated Press and Reuters. 26 May 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  9. ^ "DPS's Delyan Peevski Gives up MEP Position". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  10. ^ "MEPs Barekov, Dzhambazki to Join ECR Group in European Parliament". Novinite.com. Sofia News Agency. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  11. ^ a b "'Bulgaria without Censorship' Party Had Costliest Media Campaign". Novinite.com. Soifa News Agency. Retrieved 1 June 2014.