European Parliament election, 2007 (Bulgaria)
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18 seats to the European Parliament |
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| Turnout | 28.6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bulgaria elected its members of the European Parliament in a by-election on 20 May 2007. It was the country's first European election, having joined the Union on 1 January of that year. The country still had 18 MEPs, no change from before the election. Until Bulgaria could hold these elections, the country was represented by MEPs appointed by the National Assembly.
The top two parties - GERB and Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - won 5 seats each, followed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) with four, Ataka with three, and National Movement Simeon II (NDSV) with one. Voter turnout was 28.6%.
It was considered likely that the result of the election would cause a major political crisis in Bulgaria, due to the expected weak results of the National Movement.
Controversially, the eligible voters were limited to citizens of Bulgaria and the EU with their permanent and current address within the Union and a minimum of 60 days of the last three months before the elections spent within its borders. Because of this requirement, 232,800 people were rendered ineligible to vote, 185,000 of whom were Turkish Bulgarians resident in Turkey.
The following parties contested the elections:
The People's First Movement had registered to contest the election, but were refused by the Central Electoral Commission.
The five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death and the Bulgarian doctor who received a lighter sentence in the HIV trial in Libya were slated to stand as the six leading candidates on the list of the populist Order, Law and Justice Party – to put pressure on Libya to release the nurses and to postpone their execution because of the immunity they would have as MEPs. They were refused by the Central Electoral Commission, however, as they did not meet the residency requirements.
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