The Central Election Commission officially announced the final results of the April 19 parliamentary elections, confirming that five political formations will enter Bulgaria's 52nd National Assembly. Out of 6,627,747 eligible voters, 3,360,330 cast their ballots, with turnout reaching 51.11%. The number of valid votes stood at 3,240,156, while 50,733 voters selected the option ?I do not support anyone.? Invalid paper ballots totaled 69,222, and the total number of destroyed and invalid ballots reached 19,233.
?Progressive Bulgaria? emerged as the clear winner with 1,444,920 votes, or 44.594% support, securing 131 parliamentary seats. GERB came second with 433,755 votes and 39 mandates, followed by PP-DB with 408,846 votes and 37 seats. DPS won 230,693 votes and 21 mandates, while ?Revival? entered parliament with 137,940 votes and 12 deputies. No other formation crossed the 4% threshold required for parliamentary representation.
CEC Chairperson Kamelia Neykova explained that 13 elected MPs were chosen from two different electoral districts and must declare by April 24 where they wish to take their seat. Among them are party leaders including Rumen Radev of Progressive Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov of GERB, Asen Vassilev and Nikolai Denkov from PP-DB, DPS leader Delyan Peevski, and Kostadin Kostadinov of Revival. Neykova stated: ?April 24 is the deadline for us to make the final decision, and on the 25th we will announce the names of the elected MPs in the 52nd National Assembly.? She added that if no written application is submitted, the CEC will assign the mandate to the district where the candidate was first registered.
According to the regional distribution, Progressive Bulgaria received its strongest support in Varna, where it won nine mandates, and in Burgas, Plovdiv-region, and Sofia's 23rd district, where it secured eight seats each. GERB gained three mandates in the 23rd MIR (Multi-member Electoral District) Sofia, Blagoevgrad, and Varna, but failed to elect MPs from Kardzhali, Razgrad, and Targovishte. PP-DB won seven seats in Sofia's 23rd district and four each in the other two Sofia districts, though it remained without representation in ten electoral regions. DPS performed strongest in Kardzhali, taking three of the five seats there, while Revival secured one MP in 12 separate districts.
The commission is expected to officially announce the names of all 240 MPs on April 25. Neykova noted that these elections passed with significantly fewer technical problems and communication failures compared to previous votes. On the issue of so-called ?dead souls? in the voter lists, she said the registers are prepared by GRAO and any irregularities must be verified separately. She also clarified that the appearance of Ivaylo Kalushev's name in preliminary lists happened because those lists were prepared on February 27, while his death certificate was issued later, on March 18.
Regarding party financing and campaign spending, Neykova stressed that this does not fall under the CEC's authority, stating that responsibility lies with the Court of Auditors.
