Bulgaria confirms official election results

SOFIA

Bulgaria’s Central Election Commission (ZIK) confirmed on Wednesday five political parties passed a four percent electoral threshold in the country’s general election last Sunday.

Former Prime Minister Boyko Bosissov’s center-right GERB party emerged as the largest group, winning 95 seats of the 240-seat parliament.

Borissov’s strongest rivals, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), was second with 80 seats while the nationalist United Patriots coalition entered parliament with 27 lawmakers.

A centrist political party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) -- whose founding members were predominantly Bulgarian Turks -- also entered parliament, winning 26 seats, ZIK figures showed.

The Volya Party led by Veselin Mareshki -- owner of a national pharmacy chain -- also entered parliament with 12 lawmakers.

ZIK said the turnout -- the fifth time since May 2013 Bulgarians have gone to the polls -- was 53 percent.

It is likely the country will enter a marathon talks session to form a coalition government as none of the parties got enough seats to form a single-party government.

Turkey-based voters

Meanwhile, Bulgarian Chief Public Prosecutor Sotir Tzatzarov ordered an investigation into the blocking of expat Bulgarian voters living in Turkey from voting.

Day before Sunday’s election, a group of right-wing activists staged a demonstration in Bulgaria’s Kapitan Andreevo area to block voters living in Turkey from entering the country.

The demonstrators, many brandishing anti-Turkey banners and Bulgarian flags, blocked traffic at the border, forcing passengers from Turkey to disembark from buses and walk across the frontier on foot.

Last week’s protests also drew a response from senior Turkish cabinet ministers.

*Reporting by Ihvan Radoykov; Writing by Sorwar Alam