Bulgaria is currently experiencing a period of cohabitation. The President is Georgi Purvanov from the Socialist party (BSP); the PM is Boyko Borisov from the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB). There is a single-party GERB government.

Anyway, the Sofia Echo is reporting that on 1 February President Purvanov vetoed two laws, one that amended the Defence and Armed Forces Act and the other that amended the Meetings, Rallies and Demonstrations Act.

The reform of the Defence and Armed Forces Act seems to be getting more publicity. The reform reduced the powers of the President as commander-in-chief, specifying that the head of the general staff would no longer report to the President. The president is said to be opposed to other aspects of the bill as well.

Interestingly, the veto has not caused a rift between the president and the PM. The report states that PM Borisov actually agreed with the president, noting that it was members of the PM’s party who amended the bill. On Nova TV PM Borisov is reported by the Sofia News Agency as saying ““I do not support the President, it is just that this part of the act went through without me reading it, without my knowledge, and my advisors somehow let it through”.

In relation to the Meetings, Rallies and Demonstrations Act, Sofia Echo states: “The controversial law on public assembly, which banned protest rallies in front of Parliament, the Presidency and Government, was returned to MPs with a request to specify clearer limits on where can protests occur.”

Art. 101 of the 1991 Bulgarian constitution states:
1) Within the term established by Art. 88 para 3, the President shall be free to return a bill together with his motives to the National Assembly for further debate, which shall not be refused.
2) The new passage of such a bill shall require a majority of more than half of all Members of the National Assembly.
3) Following a new passage of the bill by the National Assembly, the President shall promulgate it within seven days following its receipt.”

The Sofia Echo is reporting that Yordanka Fandukova has been elected mayor of Sofia. The mayor is directly elected in a two-ballot contest. The result was as follows:

Yordanka Fandukova (GERB – Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) 66.1 per cent
Georgi Kadiev (Socialist Party) 26.5 per cent

In addition, Southeast European Times reports that Pavel Popov, of the conservative Order, Law and Justice party won less than 3 per cent, and that other 15 candidates received less than 1 per cent of the vote each.

So, Fandukova is elected at the first ballot, even though the turnout was only 25.7 per cent. Southeast European Times also reports that she was supported by the rightist Blue Coalition and the nationalist Ataka party

The election was caused by the appointment of Boiko Borissov as prime minister in July. (See previous post). Previously, he had served as mayor of Sofia from November 2005.

The election to the Bulgarian legislature was held on Sunday.

The Central Election Commission is reporting (in Bulgarian) the following results for the proportional element of the election (2005 in brackets):

GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) – 39.71%
Coalition for Bulgaria (led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party) – 17.7% (31%)
DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms – ethnic Turkish party) – 14.46% (12.8%)
АТАКА (National Union Attack – right-wing populist) – 9.36% (8.1%)
Blue Coalition (Union of Democratic Forces/Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria – right-wing) – 6.76% (7.7% and 6.4%)
RZS (Order, Law and Justice Party) – 4.13%
Lider (right-wing) – 3.26%
NDSV: National Movement for Stability and Progress – 3.01% (19.9%)

No other party won more than 1%. The turnout was 60.2%.

There is a nice cartographic representation of the regional results at Electoral Geography.

Adam Carr has posted the seat distribution here.

In the majoritarian element (an innovation this time around), GERB won 26 of the 31 seats. The remainder were won by DPS/MRF. There is a piece on the electoral system here.

Overall, the results were a clear anti-BSP vote. The NDSV was also badly hurt by participating in government during the recession. Its leader, Simeon of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, has quit, while the party will no longer have any parliamentary representation.

The result is almost certain to bring about a period of cohabitation in Bulgaria. The president, Georgi Parvanov, is from the BSP. The current coalition brought together the BSP, the NDSV, and the DPS/MRF. The leader of GERB and mayor of Sofia, Boiko Borissov, is likely to be the new PM. Sofia Echo is reporting that he is beginning coalition talks with the Blue Coalition. He also said that he would be willing to negotiate with any party apart from the BSP, and the MDF.

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.