This is the first time the country will hold simulateously local and presidential elections, and the fifth time it will elect a president since the fall of communism in 1989.
Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic in which the president, elected for a five-year term, lacks direct executive authority. He can veto bills, as parliament can override his veto by a majority of more than one-half of all 240 MPs. The president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He appoints the country's ambassadors, the heads of security agencies and the presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the prosecutor general, on a motion by the Supreme Judicial Council.
A total of 6,933,748 Bulgarian citizens resident in the country and abroad are eligible to vote for president and vice president. Eligible voters in the local elections are 6,514,917 people, including 248 nationals of other EU member states who have declared their wish to vote.
Voting for president and vice-president will take place in 11,382 polling sections in Bulgaria and 161 polling sections abroad in 57 countries. Eligible voters will be able to cast their ballot for municipal councillors and municipality and mayoralty mayors in polling stations in Bulgaria only.
Voting starts at 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) and ends at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT).
Eighteen pairs of president/vice president candidates are running in the elections.
If neither candidate wins more than 50% of the ballots, a week later the two frontrunners face a runoff where the winner is elected by simple majority regardless of the turnout.
Recent public opinion surveys carried out by independent local agencies give Rossen Plevneliev, nominated by the ruling centre-right party GERB, a lead over the other candidates which, however, would not be sufficient for an outright victory. In the runoff Plevneliev, who resigned as regional development minister, is seen facing the candidate of the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, Ivaylo Kalfin, who is an MEP and former foreign minister, or independent candidate Meglena Kuneva, a former EU commissioner and former EU affairs minister.
The second term of the incumbent President Georgi Parvanov expires in January and he is not eligible to run for president again.
Final results should be announced by the Central Electoral Commission within 48 hours after polls close.
