Bulgaria Ahead Of May 25 Elections For European Parliament
Bulgarians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect 17 members of the 751-seat European Parliament (EP).
Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007 and held its first EP vote the same year. Two years later Bulgarians again voted to elect members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
A total of 6.5 million Bulgarian citizens aged 18 and over are eligible to vote in Sunday's elections.
According to recent surveys, BSP and GERB are running shoulder-to-shoulder in the race, comfortably ahead of the other candidates. A total of four Bulgarian parties are expected to cross the 5.88% threshold for entry into EP. The European Parliament is elected for a five-year term. Representation is proportional and the number of seats is allocated in correspondence to the population of each member state. Voters will cast ballots in some 11,500 polling stations in Bulgaria and 167 stations abroad. A total of 313 candidates will run for MEPs in Bulgaria. Polling stations open at 6 a.m. local time (0500 CET) on Sunday and close at 7 p.m. (1800 CET).