March 22 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will hold early general elections on Sunday, four months after the resignation of the minority coalition cabinet led by centre-right GERB party.
A total of 21 parties and coalitions are competing to enter the 240-seat parliament.
The main contenders are GERB, led by former prime minister Boyko Borissov, and the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), led by Kornelia Ninova.
Other major contenders are nationalist coalition Patriotic Front, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms - DPS, which represents mainly ethnic Turks and Muslims, as well as Volya (Will) party, led by businessman Veselin Mareshki and the coalition between right-wing Reformist Bloc (RB) and Glas Naroden (Voice of the People) party.
To enter parliament a party or a coalition should win over 4.0% of the votes.
The members of parliament are elected by proportional representation in 31 multi-seat constituencies.
There will also be 371 polling stations in 70 other countries for the March 26 elections.
Voters have the right to note a preference for a certain candidate in the candidate list.
The members of parliament are elected for a four-year term.
In the previous parliament, GERB had 84 MPs, the Socialists controlled 39 seats, DPS had 38 representatives, and the Reformist Bloc has 23. The Patriotic Front has 19 MPs versus 15 for Bulgaria without Censorship, 11 for Ataka and as many for ABV.
In 2015, Bulgaria had a population of 7,153,784, data from the country’s statistical office showed.
Polling stations will open at 0600 CET and will close at 1900 CET.
GERB's coalition cabinet resigned in November after the party's candidate in the presidential elections, Tsetska Tsacheva, lost to the Socialists-backed candidate Rumen Radev.
In January, newly-elected president Rumen Radev called an early general election on March 26 and dissolved parliament.
A caretaker government, led by former parliament speaker Ognyan Gerdjikov officially took office on January 27.
Sources:
Central Election Commission
National Statistical Institute