Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 October 2014 to elect the 43rd National Assembly. GERB remained the largest party, winning 84 of the 240 seats with around a third of the vote. A total of eight parties won seats, the first time since the beginning of democratic elections in 1990 that more than seven parties entered parliament. Boyko Borisov then became prime minister as head of a coalition with the Reformist Bloc and with outside support from the Patriotic Front and the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival.

Background After the 2013 election, the seat distribution was such that the new coalition government, composed of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and led by Plamen Oresharski, had only half the seats in Parliament, and thus prospects of holding early elections were significant. Also, the Oresharski cabinet was confronted by a series of protests starting on 14 June 2013, in response to the election of Delyan Peevski as head of the Bulgarian state security agency DANS (State Agency for National Security).Bulgarians protests over media magnate as security chief, Reuters, 14 June 2013Thousands Rally in Bulgaria against Election of Shady Mogul for 'FBI' Head, Novinite, 14 June 2013 Protester says things could change for better (video) , bgnes, 14 June 2013

Following the setback suffered by the BSP in the European Parliament election, having picked up 18.94% of the popular vote (down from 26.6% in 2013), opposition parties called for early parliamentary elections. The leader of the DPS expressed his desire to have the government resign so that early elections can be scheduled for the end of 2014 or the middle of 2015.

On 10 June 2014 the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Sergei Stanishev, demanded the resignation of the government: "We cannot have the responsibility for the existence and actions of this government solely by ourselves." Following an agreement from the three largest parties (GERB, BSP and DPS) to hold early parliamentary elections for 5 October 2014, the cabinet was to resign by the end of July.

On Wednesday July 23, Oresharski's government submitted its resignation. The next day parliament voted 180–8 (8 abstained and 44 were absent) to accept the government's resignation. After each party refused to try to form a new government, on 6 August a caretaker government led by Georgi Bliznashki was sworn into office and the 42nd National Assembly was dissolved with an election date set for 5 October.

Campaign Twenty-two parties and seven coalitions registered to run on election day before the deadline. Two parties were denied registration.

The election campaign started on 5 September.

Opinion polls

Pre election campaign Pre election campaign pollsSourceDateGERBBSPDPSAttackRBBBTPFABV Others Total21 July 201316.9%19.3%7.8%2.3%3.9%–2.3%–1.8%54.3%Alpha Research27 August 201315.6%18.4%5.8%1.5%7.6%–3.1%–21.6%73.6%Alpha Research25 September 201315.6%17.9%5.8%1.5%7.6%–3.1%–21.6%73.6%Institute for Modern Politics28 September 201316.6%18.5%5.8%1.4%5.6%–1.9%–16.5%66.3%AFIS29 September 201319.9%21.2%6.5%2.5%3.3%2.8%–7.8%64.0%24 October 201319.5%21.7%5.3%2.0%3.8%2.4%1.9%–0.7%57.3%Alpha Research31 October 201316.5%16.9%6.1%3.0%6.4%–2.6%–8.2%59.7%Institute for Modern Politics10 November 201326.2%26.2%8.1%1.3%8.2%6.1%1.9%––78.0%Mediana18 November 201316.9%22.8%7.6%2.8%8.6%4.3%2.9%–2.9%68.8%Gallup19 November 201318.1%21.4%5.9%2.4%6.7%––––54.5%4 December 201316.3%21.3%5.5%2.7%4.3%3.0%1.3%–1.2%55.6%Alpha Research8 December 201315.8%16.5%6.1%2.7%6.9%–3.5%–9.7%61.2%12 December 201318%22%5%2%5%3%1%–10%66%Focus13 December 201323.5%22.3%5.5%2.7%5.8%3%3%––65.8%Institute for Modern Politics17 December 201321.0%21.2%4.8%1.9%4.8%5.0%1.9%––60.6%Gallup18 December 201318.0%22.8%6.1%1.8%4.8%2.1%1.6%–3.5%60.7%15 January 201418.4%19.5%6.8%2.3%4.2%3.0%1.5%–0.8%56.5%Gallup16 January 201418.1%21.6%5.8%1.5%4.8%2.5%2.1%–3.5%59.9%Modern Institute for Politics31 January 201419.8%20.5%4.3%1.6%4.5%5.6%1.5%1.0%4.0%62.8%Gallup13 March 201419.9%19.0%6.0%2.5%3.6%4.9%1.8%1.8%–59.6%25 March 201421.7%22.3%7.6%2.3%3.1%7.0%0.9%2.6%0.7%68.2%28 April 201417.2%19.8%6.6%2.2%3.8%6.0%1.8%2.4%0.4%60.2%Center for Analysis and Marketing30 April 201419.7%16.0%8.2%–4.8%4.6%–––53.3%Focus23 May 201424%26%12.5%4.5%5.5%9.5%4.5%––86.5%Sova Haris21 July 201423%15.2%8%1.3%4%–1%2.7%–55.2%Modern Institute for Politics25 July 201427.2%13.5%7.3%2.4%4.5%6.0%2.4%4.0%4.9%72.2%Gallup14 August 201423.4%15.9%7.8%1.7%4.2%4.7%3.1%2.4%2.966.1%AFIS24 August 201431.3%22.7%10.1%3.2%6.3%4.5%4.1%4.9%12.9%100%Sova Haris30 August 201443.2%31.4%11%–7.1%7.3%–––100%Mediana1 September 201426.8%17.5%9.2%3.7%4.4%4.7%4.3%3.3%–73.9%SourceDateGERBBSPDPSAttackRBBBTPFABVOthersTotal

Election campaign SourceDateGERBBSPDPSAttackRBBBTPFABV Others TotalGallup18 September 201435.9%18.3%14.2%3.4%5.6%5.8%4.9%3.6%8.3%100.0%Alpha Research1 October 201434.1%19.1%15.4% -6%6%4.2% - -84.8%

Results

Voter demographics Gallup exit polling suggested the following demographic breakdown. The parties which received below 4% of the vote are included in 'Others':

Voter demographics Social group % GERB % BSP % DPS % RB % PF % BBT % Ataka % ABV % Others % Lead Exit Poll Result 34 16 12 9.5 6 6 5 5 6.5 18 Final Result 32.7 15.4 14.8 8.9 7.3 5.7 4.5 4.2 6.5 17.3 Gender Men 34 14 13 9 7 6 7 4 6 18 Women 35 17 11 10 6 6 3 5 7 18 Age 18–30 35 8 16 12 5 7 4 3 10 19 30-60 37 13 12 12 6 6 5 5 4 24 60+ 26 35 8 6 7 3 6 5 4 9 Highest Level of Education Lower Education 19 21 35 3 4 6 6 1 5 14 Secondary Education 36 16 12 7 7 7 5 4 6 20 Higher Education 37 15 2 15 7 4 4 6 10 22 Ethnic Group Bulgarian 38 17 1 11 8 6 6 5 8 21 Turkic 6 2 84 3 0 1 0 1 3 78 Roma 20 22 36 3 1 8 4 1 5 14 Location Towns and Villages 24 18 31 4 3 6 6 4 4 7 Smaller Cities 32 19 7 8 7 8 6 4 9 13 Larger Cities 41 13 4 10 8 6 5 5 8 28 Sofia 36 15 1 21 6 2 4 6 9 15

Reactions Following his party's election victory, Borisov stated that his party would try to form the next government and that he "want[s] to govern, in person".

Government formation

The newly elected Assembly met for the first time on 27 October.Bulgaria's National Assembly to be inaugurated todayКопирано от standartnews.com Standart, 27 October 2014

After being tasked by President Rosen Plevneliev to form a government, Borisov's GERB allied with the Reformist Bloc to form a government and also had the outside support of the Patriotic Front and the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival. The cabinet of twenty ministers was approved by a majority of 136-97 (with one abstention). Borisov was then chosen as prime minister by an even larger vote of 149-85.

References