The EP election was held in Bulgaria on Sunday.

The turnout was 38.9%. The EP is reporting the following results (2007 in brackets):

GERB: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria – 24.4%, 5 seats (21.7%, 5)
BSP: Bulgarian Socialist Party – 18.5%, 4 seats (21.4%, 5)
DPS: Movement for Rights and Freedoms (ethnic Turkish party) – 14.1%, 3 seats (20.3%, 4)
АТАКА: National Union Attack – 12%, 2 seats (14.2%, 3)
NDSV: National Movement for Stability and Progress – 8%, 2 seats (6.3%, 1)
SDS-DSB: Blue Coalition (Union of Democratic Forces-Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria) – 8%, 1 seat (4.5% SDS/UDF, 4.4% DSB, 0)
RZS: Order, Law and Justice Party – 4.7%, 0 seats (0.5%, 0)
NAPRED: FORWARD – 2.3%, 0 seats

Legislative election will be held on 5 July. So, the EP elections were a warm-up for the main event. The incumbent BSP (as the Coalition for Bulgaria) did worse than it had hoped. However, the centre-right GERB perhaps also did less well than expected. So, there is all to play for. The other parties in the government, the NSDV and the DPS also failed to convince. A caretaker government or another three-party coalition is the most likely outcome after the July election.

There is an active blog on the forthcoming elections in Bulgaria at: http://bulgarianelections.blogactiv.eu/

An article on the 2007 EP election Bulgaria can be found here.