ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Local elections day in Bulgaria

Photo: BTA

Today, 29 October, Bulgaria holds the first round of regular elections for mayors and municipal councillors in a total of 265 municipalities. These elections are seen as a test of the country's governance. The coalition partners in the Cabinet and Parliament - GERB-SDS and We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria - are rivals, as the results could lead to a change in the balance of the ruling majority before the upcoming rotation of Prime Minister in the "Nikolay Denkov-Mariya Gabriel" Cabinet in March 2024.


Who is voting today and what are they voting for?

The right to vote for municipal councillors and mayors is open to citizens over the age of 18 who are currently registered at their permanent address on the territory of the country on the day of the election, with at least one of the addresses being on the territory of the municipality concerned and, in the case of mayoral elections, on the territory of the respective settlement.
EU citizens who are not Bulgarian citizens but who have long-term or permanent residence status in Bulgaria and who have lived in the settlement for at least the last six months and have a registered address there are also eligible to vote. Mayoral elections are held in settlements where more than 100 people are registered with a permanent address.

58 parties and 9 coalitions are registered with the Central Electoral Commission to take part in the elections, as are over 8 000 candidates for mayors of municipalities, town halls and districts, and over 30 000 candidates for general elections.


Duration of polling day

Election day begins at 07:00 and ends at 20:00. If there are people waiting outside polling stations after this time, voting may be extended until 21:00.
Campaigning and pre-announcement of results are prohibited on polling day. The polling stations announce the estimated results at the end of polling day, after 20:00.


Run-off elections

According to the polls, a second round of voting is expected to take place on 5 November in places where none of the mayoral candidates has received more than 50% of the actual votes cast. The two mayoral candidates with the highest scores in the first round will go through to the run-off.


Monitoring the vote

There are 15 observers and 4 polling agencies registered for these local elections.

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria News Local elections    29 October 2023 information local elections

More from category

An icon of Saints Cyril and Methodius is kept in the museum in Vinogradovka, Ukraine

An icon of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equal to the Apostles, is kept in the ethnographic museum of the multicultural Bessarabian village of Vinogradovka , Ukraine, according to the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency. The relic forms part of the museum's..

published on 6/18/25 5:59 PM

The number of foreign students in Bulgarian universities is growing

More and more foreign students have been choosing Bulgarian universities and higher education institutions in recent years,  the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) reports. The increased interest is due not only to the tuition fees, but also to the quality of..

published on 6/18/25 4:01 PM

EC initiates penalty proceedings against Bulgaria over drinking water regulations, noise pollution

The European Commission has opened penalty proceedings against five countries, including Bulgaria, for incorrectly implementing changes to European drinking water regulations, BTA reports. The countries were supposed to implement the amended..

published on 6/18/25 3:49 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 16 | Max: 34
Partly Cloudy
Min: 20 | Max: 28
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 28
Partly Cloudy
Min: 16 | Max: 36
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 33
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 13 | Max: 33
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 33
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 33
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Partly Cloudy
Min: 19 | Max: 35
Partly Cloudy
Min: 17 | Max: 35
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 30
Partly Cloudy
Min: 19 | Max: 35
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 35
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 33
Partly Cloudy
Min: 20 | Max: 35
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 20 | Max: 34
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 17 | Max: 35
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 13 | Max: 26
Partly Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 31
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 16 | Max: 35
Partly Cloudy
Min: 17 | Max: 34
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 35
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 33
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 35
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

Weather remains hot, light precipitation is possible over the western massifs

On Wednesday, the lowest temperatures will be between 13 and 18°C; In Sofia – about 15°C. It will be sunny before noon. In the afternoon there will be..

published on 6/17/25 7:40 PM

The number of foreign students in Bulgarian universities is growing

More and more foreign students have been choosing Bulgarian universities and higher education institutions in recent years,  the Bulgarian News Agency..

published on 6/18/25 4:01 PM

Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has managed to evacuate 148 people from Israel

The plane with 148 people evacuated from Israel landed at Vasil Levski Airport in Sofia at 02:30 . 89 of the people are Bulgarians and..

published on 6/18/25 8:45 AM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"