Podcast in English

Majority elected mayors to govern with diverse councils

Two main questions dominated the first round of local elections. Will the cancellation of electronic voting just before the election lead to a voter mobilisation amid suspicions of a last-minute attempt to rig the vote? Will it lead to a change of..

published on 10/30/23 3:03 PM

How do Bulgarians elect their governing figures

"The subject must be undoubtedly literate, have a satisfactory command of beautiful handwriting, read quickly silently without staring, and most of all have a satisfactory command of simple calculations - the multiplication table and other arithmetic..

published on 10/28/23 10:05 AM
Candidates for Sofia mayor (L-R) Vassil Terziev, Anton Hekimyan, Deyan Nikolov, Vili Lilkov, Vanya Grigorova, Carlos Contrera.

PP-DB candidate with 8% lead over GERB candidate for Sofia mayor

Three days before Bulgaria goes to the polls for local elections, a survey by Alpha Research shows that the candidate for mayor of Sofia, Vassil Terziev of We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB) and Save Sofia, has the largest share of..

published on 10/26/23 2:50 PM
Haris Doukas

Balkan developments

Conservatives cede Athens and Thessaloniki to left wing When the opposition rallied under the motto “everyone against the conservatives”, this brought about an unexpected turn in the results of the second round of the local elections in..

updated on 10/20/23 11:28 AM

Déjà vu - "newcomers" are once again rushing to the polls‎

On the eve of the local elections in Bulgaria which will take place on October 29, suspicions of an organized ‎documented internal migration of voters in order to influence the outcome of ‎the election are again appearing. The phenomenon in question is..

published on 10/17/23 2:18 PM

Citizens largely do not know the powers of mayors and have unrealistic expectations of them

A total of 5,257 are the populated places in Bulgaria, according to the data of the National Statistical Institute. Of these, there are 257 cities, 4998 villages, as well as the Klisura and Rila monasteries, which have the status of settlements. More..

published on 10/16/23 3:13 PM

GERB may trigger early elections if coalition partners continue to downplay its role, party leader Boyko Borissov said 

GERB leader Boyko Borissov warned "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB) that he could trigger early elections if the coalition continues to downplay the role of GERB-SDS in the government's achievements.  "If you do not correct..

published on 10/14/23 3:11 PM

The war in the Middle East in comments from Bulgaria

"You hear the sirens, they stop, and then the crackling, the rumbling starts... You don't know if in the next three to four seconds you'll survive!" is how Bulgarian singer Vasko Vasilev - Bazilio, who ended up in the epicentre of the fighting in Tel..

published on 10/11/23 2:31 PM

Bulgaria sympathizes with the people of Israel

Empathy and concern - this is what the actions of the Bulgarian state in the first ‎hours of the full-scale war that started in the state of Israel speak for. Bulgaria’s ‎Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov categorically condemned the terrorist attacks ‎of the..

published on 10/9/23 1:03 PM

Local election campaign kicks off

Exactly a month from now, on 29 October, Bulgarians will elect mayors and municipal councillors in local government for the next four years.  Over the next 30 days, candidates will have the opportunity to present their ideas for the development of the..

published on 9/29/23 5:50 AM