2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria

An election of the Members of the European Parliament from Bulgaria to the European Parliament was held on 25 May 2014 as part of the larger European Parliament election. After a decision by the European Council in 2013, Bulgaria was allocated 17 seats in the European Parliament for the Eighth European Parliament.

2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria

← 2009
25 May 2014
2019 →

All 17 Bulgarian seats to the European Parliament
Turnout35.84%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tomislav Donchev Sergei Stanishev Filiz Hyusmenova
Party GERB BSP DPS
Alliance EPP S&D ALDE
Last election 5 seats, 24.36% 4 seats, 18.50% 3 seats, 14.14%
Seats won 6 4 4
Seat change 1 1
Popular vote 680,838 424,037 386,725
Percentage 30.40% 18.93% 17.26%
Swing 6.04 0.44 3.12

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Leader Nikolay Barekov Meglena Kuneva Volen Siderov
Party BBT—VMRO RB Attack
Alliance ECR EPP NI
Last election 1 seat, 7.95% 2 seats, 11.96%
Seats won 2 1 0
Seat change 2 1 2
Popular vote 238,629 144,532 66,210
Percentage 10.66% 6.45% 2.96%
Swing New 1.50 9.00

The election campaign officially began on 25 April 2014, one month before the election day.

Background

The elections come a year after the 2013 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria that resulted in a minority parliament. Since the election winner, GERB, failed to form a government the Socialists and the DPS formed a coalition government led by Plamen Oresharski. The European elections of 2014 are considered to be of importance as they will reflect the popularity of the current government.

Changes in electoral law

In February 2014 Bulgarian MPs voted to lower the preferential-vote threshold for the election from 6% to 5% of each list's total votes.

Implicit electoral threshold still remains equal to the Hare Quota, which is about 5.88% of the total valid votes.

Opinion polls

Polls include Bulgarian parliamentary election polls if European parliamentary election polling numbers are unavailable.

Pre election campaign

Election campaign

Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc BBT NFSB ABV Others Total
Institute for Modern Politics 26 April 2014 17.6% 15.9% 6.2% 2.5% 4.5% 4.9% 3.0% 4.5% 7.0% 66.1%
Sova Haris 28 April 2014 17.0% 19.2% 6.2% 2.3% 4.1% 5.5% 1.4% 2.3% 0.3% 58.3%
Center for Analysis and Marketing 30 April 2014 14.8% 13.3% 6.8% 1.7% 3.0% 2.7% 2.1% 0.7% 45.1%
Mediana 13 May 2014 17.1% 20.5% 7.3% 3.5% 4.3% 9.8% 3.6% 2.9% 69.0%
Institute for Modern Politics 13 May 2014 19.3% 20.5% 7.0% 4.5% 2.5% 7.5% 1.4% 3.5% 2.6% 68.8%
Exacta Research 19 May 2014 28.5% 24.0% 11.3% 4.1% 6.2% 11.1% 3.8% 5.8% 94.8%
Alpha Research 20 May 2014 27.3% 23.6% 13.4% 4.1% 5.9% 10.5% 3.9% 5.3% 94.0%
Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc BBT NFSB ABV Others Total

Exit polls

Source Date GERB BSP DPS Attack Reformist Bloc BBT NFSB ABV Others Total
Mediana 25 May 2014 27.9% 20.2% 14.5% 7.3% 11.6% 81.5%
Alpha Research 25 May 2014 28.4% 21.6% 15.5% 6.8% 9.9% 82.2%
Gallup International 25 May 2014 28.6% 19.8% 14.9% 6.4% 11.1% 80.8%

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
GERB680,83830.406+1
Coalition for Bulgaria424,03718.9440
Movement for Rights and Freedoms386,72517.274+1
Bulgaria Uncensored238,62910.662New
Reformist Bloc144,5326.4510
Alternative for Bulgarian Revival90,0614.020New
National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria68,3763.050New
Attack66,2102.960–2
People's Voice22,4401.000New
Coalition KOD (OB–NDSV–SDP)20,4870.910–2
The Greens12,5470.5600
Bulgarian Left11,0140.490New
Blue Unity10,7860.480New
Bulgarian Communist Party9,3180.420New
Green Party7,9890.360New
BASTA7,3300.330New
Party of Greens5,2180.230New
Union of Communists in Bulgaria3,2170.140New
Bulgarian National-Patriotic Party3,0000.130New
Christian Democratic Party2,9640.130New
Nationalist Parties of Bulgaria (Svoboda–Libertas Bulgaria)2,4990.110New
Independents21,2130.9500
Total2,239,430100.00170
Valid votes2,239,43094.81
Invalid/blank votes122,5365.19
Total votes2,361,966100.00
Registered voters/turnout6,599,59935.79
Source: CIK

Elected MEPs

The following 17 MEP were elected:

European People's Party–European Democrats – 7 seats:

  • GERB – 6 seats
    • Tomislav Donchev (former Minister of European Funding management)
    • Andrey Kovatchev (second term as MEP)
    • Maria Gabriel (second term as MEP)
    • Vladimir Uruchev (third term as MEP)
    • Eva Paunova
    • Emil Radev
  • RB Reformist Bloc – 1 seat
    • Svetoslav Malinov (second term as MEP) (according to preliminary info a majority of the voters have expressed their preference for the second candidate in the list – Malinov. Confirmed by the Central Electoral Commission)

Party of European Socialists – 4 seats:

  • BSP Bulgarian Socialist Party – 4 seats
    • Momchil Nekov (Candidate No. 15 on the party list, but finished in first place after a surprising preference voting victory)
    • Sergei Stanishev
    • Iliana Yotova (third term as MEP)
    • Georgi Pirinski

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – 4 seats:

  • DPS Movement for Rights and Freedoms – 4 seats:
    • Filiz Husmenova (third term as MEP)
    • Nedjmi Ali
    • Ilhan Kyuchuk
    • Iskra Mihaylova (incumbent Minister of Environment and Water Resources, instead of Delyan Peevski)
Declined:
  • Delyan Peevski (steps down, turns over his seat to the fifth on the list)

European Conservatives and Reformists – 2 seats

  • BBT Bulgaria Without Censorship (Electoral Alliance) – 2 seats
    • Nikolay Barekov (Bulgaria Without Censorship)
    • Angel Dzhambazki (IMRO – Bulgarian National Movement)

Media expenses

According to a survey taken by the NGO Institute for Public Environment Development, the following table represents the media campaign expenses of the main parties:

Party Spending (BGN) Spending per seat
Bulgaria Without Censorship 1,085,655 542,827.50
Bulgarian Socialist Party 740,000 185,000
Attack 648,000 Did not win any seats
Reformist Bloc 360,000 360,000
Movement for Rights and Freedoms 294,500 73,625
Alternative for Bulgarian Revival 229,318 Did not win any seats
GERB 133,271 22,211.80
  • Note: Campaign expenses were capped at BGN 2 million.

See also

wikipedia, wiki, encyclopedia, book, library, article, read, free download, Information about 2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria, What is 2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria? What does 2014 European Parliament election in Bulgaria mean?