Bulgaria's Ruling GERB Ranks 1st in Municipal Vote

Bulgarians voted in local elections on October 23 and in the October 30 runoff. File photo

The ballot count in all 264 Bulgarian municipalities has concluded and official results are available, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced Tuesday.

In most municipal councils the ruling, center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) has the needed majority.

According to the CEC data, the distribution of elected municipal councilors is as follows: 1 583 for GERB, 1 038 for the opposition, left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), 688 for the opposition ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), 123 for the conservative Order, Law and Justice (RZS), 97 for the right-wing Blue Coalition, and 63 for the far-right, nationalist Ataka.

GERB registers the highest increase compared to its 865 municipal councilors in the previous local elections in 2007; BSP has a slight increase of just 69; for the first time since the beginning of democratic elections in Bulgaria in 1990, DPS registers a sharp decline – 844 in 2007 to the current 688 due to GERB's breakthrough in DPS strongholds with a large minority population.

The record breaker in having fewer councilors is, however, Ataka – from 244 in 2007 to 63 in 2011.

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