SOFIA (Bulgaria), October 15 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria's parliament will convene on October 27 for its first sitting following early general elections held in the beginning of October, the country's president Rosen Plevneliev said on Wednesday.
The date was chosen after consultations with the political parties that will be represented in the National Assembly, Plevneliev said in a statement posted on the website of the presidency on Wednesday.
Eight parties jumped the 4.0% threshold for entry into Bulgaria's parliament.
Centre-right party GERB, a member of the European People's Party (EPP), won 32.67% of the votes in the elections, giving it 84 MPs in the 240-seat National Assembly. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - Left Bulgaria coalition came in second with 15.4% of the votes and will have 39 representatives in parliament, followed by the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) with 14.84% and 38 MPs.
The Reformist Bloc, an alliance if right-wing parties, was backed by 8.89% of voters and will have 23 MPs. The Patriotic Front secured 19 seats on the back of 7.28% voter support, and Bulgaria without Censorship collected 5.69% of the votes, giving it 15 seats. Ultra-nationalist party Ataka and left-wing party ABV were supported by 4.52% and 4.15%, respectively and will have 11 MPs each.
GERB is currently holding talks with the other parties that will enter parliament on the formation of a minority government.
The elections followed a year of political instability in the country.
The Socialist-led government resigned in July after its junior ally MRF called for early general elections, saying the results of recent elections for the European Parliament - in which the Socialists suffered a crushing defeat - had created a new political reality in the country.
In August, president Plevneliev dissolved parliament and decreed a caretaker government headed by Georgi Bliznashki.
The cabinet of the Socialists and MRF was formed as a result of early elections in 2013 after street rallies across the country against high electricity bills escalated into anti-government marches.