People's Voice ( bg, Глас народен) is a political party in

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 ...

, founded by

Svetoslav Vitkov Svetoslav Emilov Vitkov ( bg, Светослав Емилов Витков ; born 26 January 1971) is a Bulgarian singer and politician, best known for his work with Hipodil. In 2013, he founded the political party People's Voice. History Sv ...

in 2013.

History

The party was established in 2013 by popular Bulgarian punk and ska musician

just prior to the

parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

and achieved relative success by winning 1,34% of the total vote. This result placed it as the 13th largest party in the country, with just a few weeks of campaigning and little to no financial support. The party became the first one to open its list for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

election in 2014 to all people willing to participate. Following a series of events, including public debates on European policies, a lie-detector test, and Facebook voting, the party announced its 17 candidates, with most of them having never been involved in politics before. The top two candidates were well-known - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences member and activist Hristo Lafchiev, and political scientist and renowned football fan Aleksandar Alekov. The party soon became known for its provocative, fun and socially open rhetoric, including penalty shoot-outs with other politicians and scandalous video clips. At the

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

in May 2014, People's Voice placed 9th with 1,002% of the vote. In the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held in October 2014, the party 37,335 votes, enough to earn it 10th place with 1.14% of the vote. People's Voice attempted to enter the 2016 presidential election, initially opting for a coalition with

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' *Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *Gree ...

. Their candidate for president was Svetoslav Vitkov, while his running-mate was Ivan Velkov, a Deputy Chairman of the municipal councilor in Sofia. However, on October 5, 2016 their registration in the elections was denied due to an insufficient number of signatures gathered prior to the final deadline for doing so. At the 2017 parliamentary election, People's Voice entered a coalition with the

Reformist Bloc The Reformist Bloc ( bg, Реформаторски блок, Reformatorski blok) was a centre-right electoral alliance in Bulgaria. History The coalition agreement to form the alliance was signed on 20 December 2013. The five parties that signe ...

, with Vitkov announced as the top candidate for the 25th electoral district, one of three that comprise the capital Sofia.

Electoral history

National Assembly

European Parliament

References

{{Political parties in Bulgaria

External links

Official website
(in

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

) Political parties in Bulgaria Political parties established in 2013 2013 establishments in Bulgaria