The political framework of Bulgaria

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: Rumen RADEV (since 22 January 2017 - reelected in 2021)
Prime Minister: Nikolai DENKOV (since 6 June 2023)
Next Election Dates: Presidential: Autumn 2026
Parliamentary: 2027
Main Political Parties: Bulgaria has a multi-party system, where no single party generally has a chance of gaining power alone. Thus political parties work with each other to form coalition governments. The major political parties are:
- Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB): centre-right, it receives most of its support from nationalists and socialists
- Union of Democratic Forces (SDS): centre-right, conservative
- Movement for Rights & Freedoms (DPS): centrist, liberal, formed mainly by the Turkish ethnic minority
- Revival: far-right, ultranationalist
- Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP): centre-left, socialist, draws its support from rural areas
- We Continue the Change (PP): centre, liberalism, pro-European
- Yes, Bulgaria!: centre, liberalism
- Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB): centre-right to right-wing, conservatism
- Green Movement (ZD): centre, green party
- Volt Bulgaria: centre-left
- There Is Such a People (ITN): right-wing, populist.
Executive Power: The President is the chief of the state and is directly elected for a 5-year term (renewable once), the same as for the Vice President. He is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and nominates the Prime Minister, who is elected by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, holds the executive powers and is also the head of the government. Moreover, the Prime Minister nominates the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers is the principal body of the executive branch. The Council of Ministers must resign if the National Assembly passes a vote of no confidence.
Legislative Power: Bulgaria has a unicameral parliament (called the National Assembly), whose 240 members are elected for 4-year-terms by popular vote. A political party or coalition must obtain a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter the National Assembly. The parliament is responsible for the enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the prime minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 112/180
Evolution:: 111/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Free
Political Freedom:: 2/7
Civil Liberties:: 46/60

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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