At stake in this election:

• 240 seats in the National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Rosen PLEVNELIEV
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Marin RAIKOV **
• Assembly: Bulgaria has a unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) with 240 seats.

** RAIKOV was appointed by the president to lead a caretaker government when former Prime Minister Boyko BORISOV stepped down in February 2013.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
• Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) 240 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

*** Bulgaria is divided into 31 multi-member districts, with each district having between 4 and 16 representatives based on population. Political parties and coalitions must receive at least 4 percent of valid votes at the national level to receive a seat.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) / Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya
  • Leader: Boyko BORISOV
  • Seats won in this election: 97
  • Seats won in last election: 117
• Party: Bulgarian Socialist Party / Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya (BSP)
  • Leader: Sergei STANISHEV
  • Seats won in this election: 84
  • Seats won in last election: 37
• Party: Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) / Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi
  • Leader: Lyutvi MESTAN
  • Seats won in this election: 36
  • Seats won in last election: 35
• Party: Attack / Ataka
  • Leader: Volen SIDEROV
  • Seats won in this election: 23
  • Seats won in last election: 21
• Party: The National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria / Natzionalen Front za Spasenie na Bulgaria
  • Leader: Valeri SIMEONOV
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Bulgaria for Citizens / Bulgariya na grazhdanite
  • Leader: Meglena KUNEVA
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Order, Law and Justice (RZS) / Red, zakonnost i spravedlivost
  • Leader: Yane YANEV
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 10
• Coalition: The Democratic Civil Initiative- Movement for Civic Control*********
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

********* This coalition consists of parties that have emerged in response to the early 2013 protests.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 7,476,000 ( 2011 est.)
• Registered Voters: 6,919,260 (April 2013 est.)