FACTBOX - Bulgaria ahead of June 9 snap vote, European elections

Candidates from twenty parties and eleven coalitions are running for the 240-seat unicameral National Assembly.

To secure representation in the National Assembly, a party or coalition needs to win at least 4% of all valid votes.

In the most recent snap election last April, the centre-right GERB-UDF coalition, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, won 26.5% of the votes, narrowly defeating the reformist WCC-DB coalition, which received 24.6%. The two political formations then agreed on a rotation government in a bid to break the political deadlock and advance the country's strategic goals of Schengen and eurozone membership.

However, the agreement fell apart earlier this year and subsequent attempts by political formations in the National Assembly to put together a government failed. Bulgaria is currently governed by a caretaker cabinet appointed by president Rumen Radev in April.

Members of parliament in Bulgaria are elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in 31 multi-seat constituencies. Voters have the right to note a preference for a certain candidate on the party list.

Twenty parties and ten coalitions are running in the elections for members of the European Parliament.

Bulgaria currently has 17 MEPs and will send the same number of representatives to the next European Parliament. To win a seat, political parties, coalitions or independent candidates must secure at least one-seventeenth of all valid votes.

Bulgarian citizens older than 18 years, residing in the country or abroad, are eligible to vote in the elections for National Assembly. Bulgarian nationals residing abroad will be able to vote in 769 polling stations in 60 countries, according to data from the foreign ministry. Voters can use a voting machine or cast a paper ballot.

Bulgarian citizens can vote in the European Parliament elections only if they have resided in the country or another EU member state for at least three months before election day.

Campaigning for the election will close on June 7. No election campaigning is allowed on June 8. Polling stations in Bulgaria will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. local time on Sunday.