Local elections in Bulgaria were held on 29 October 2023. Mayors and municipal councillors across the country were elected.

Electoral system

The elections to Bulgaria's municipal councils are conducted via

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

with an open list preferential voting system. The mayoral elections take place within the context of a

majoritarian Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda that asserts that a majority (sometimes categorized by religion, language, social class, or some other identifying factor) of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primac ...

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. The first round of the elections will be held on 29 October. If no candidate in a given constituency manages to gain 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held for that constituency in the second round on 5 November. Voting is officially mandatory, but in practice there is no punishment for failing to vote and the law itself isn't strictly enforced. Voters further have the option to vote against all proposed candidates.

Contesting parties

Local parties & coalitions

Mayorship of Sofia

The election for the position of

Mayor of Sofia This is a chronological list of mayors of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, since that post was established after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. The first governor of Sofia was Petr Alabin. Initially, the mayors of Sofia were assigned by the ...

, Bulgaria's capital and largest city, is expected to be hotly contested and will result in a new mayor being elected, as incumbent mayor

Yordanka Fandakova Yordanka Asenova Fandakova ( bg, Йорданка Асенова Фандъкова) (born 12 April 1962) is a Bulgarian politician and Mayor of Sofia. She is the first woman to hold this position. She was elected on 15 November 2009, after defeat ...

from GERB has announced she will not seek re-election. Opinion polls for Mayor of Sofia

Results

First round

According to Central Election Commission the number of people who voted on 29 October totaled 2,713,979 or 44.94% of eligible voters. The turnout was 49.76% in the 2019 local elections. The invalid ballots in the 29 October, 2023 elections totaled over half a million, including 412,711 ballots for municipal councilors, 94,195 for municipality mayor (down from 128,204 in 2019) and 34,235 for mayoralty mayor. In general, GERB had the strongest showing throughout the country, although the party failed to make it to the second round in the capital.

Second round

Overall, GERB won 11 regional towns,

PP–DB PP–DB ( bg, ПП – ДБ) is an electoral coalition between We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria in Bulgaria. The two groups merged prior to the 2023 election. Background Bulgarian political crisis Following numerous corrupt ...

won four, and the

Bulgarian Socialist party The Bulgarian Socialist Party ( bg, Българска социалистическа партия, translit=Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya, BSP), also known as The Centenarian ( bg, Столетницата, links=no, translit=Stoletnitsat ...

won three. Of the largest four cities, PP-DB won in the capital (

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

) and

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

while GERB won in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

and Burgas.

Sofia

References

{{Portalbar, Politics, Bulgaria

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

October 2023 events in Bulgaria Local elections in Bulgaria 2023 in Bulgaria