Bulgaria

SOFIA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarians went to the polls on Sunday morning to vote in the second round of the presidential elections.

Nearly 6.7 million eligible voters would choose their president for the next five years between incumbent President Rumen Radev and Rector of Sofia University Anastas Gerdjikov.

Radev, who was backed by several political formations such as Continue the Change coalition, Bulgarian Socialist Party and There Is Such A People, won the first round of the election on Nov. 14 with 49.42 percent.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are heading to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament and a new president amid a surge of coronavirus infections.

Some 6.7 million eligible voters hope that after inconclusive general elections in April and July, the third attempt to elect 240 lawmakers will result in a government to lead the European Union’s poorest member out of health and economic crises.

Analysts predict a low turnout due to people’s concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, a sluggish vaccine uptake and political apathy after two inconclusive elections.

SOFIA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's centre-right GERB party leads its rivals a week ahead of the country's third parliamentary election this year amid a prolonged political crisis, surging coronavirus infections and rising energy costs, a new opinion poll showed on Saturday.

But neither GERB nor any of the other five parties expected to win seats in the new parliament is expected to win a majority, raising the prospect of tough coalition talks on forming a government in the poorest European Union member state.

SOFIA, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Popular former interim economy and finance ministers have set up a centrist political faction to compete in Bulgaria's third parliamentary election this year on pledges to tackle widespread corruption and foster a fairer distribution of wealth.

The European Union's poorest member state is facing a new election on Nov. 14, after inconclusive votes in April and July.

SOFIA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will hold its third parliamentary election this year on Nov. 14, President Rumen Radev said on Saturday, after parliament approved changes to the 2021 state budget.

The Balkan country will also hold the first round of the regular presidential election on the same date.

Radev, who is running for re-election, said holding the two votes together will save time and taxpayer money in the European Union's poorest member state.

VELIKO TARNOVO, Bulgaria (AP) — Standing outside the rundown public hospital in Bulgaria’s northern town of Veliko Tarnovo, the vaccination unit’s chief nurse voices a sad reality about her fellow citizens: “They don’t believe in vaccines.”

Bulgaria has one of the highest coronavirus death rates in the 27-nation European Union and is facing a new, rapid surge of infections due to the more infectious delta variant. Despite that, people in this Balkan nation are the most hesitant in the bloc to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

SOFIA, July 15 (NNN-Xinhua) — The recently established There Is Such A People party has won the snap parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, ending the 12-year dominance of the GERB party, according to final results announced on Thursday.

There Is Such A People, which was founded in 2019 by the TV host and singer Slavi Trifonov, received 24.08 percent of the votes at the elections on Sunday, and will have 65 seats in the 240-member National Assembly, the Central Election Commission said.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are voting in a snap poll on Sunday after a previous election in April produced a fragmented parliament that failed to form a viable coalition government.

Latest opinion polls suggest that the rerun could produce similar results but also a further drop in support for former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party, after the current caretaker government made public allegations of widespread corruption during his rule.

SOFIA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria has recorded its first day with zero COVID-19 deaths since Sept. 28 last year, keeping the country's total death toll at 18,027, official data from Bulgaria's COVID-19 information portal showed Monday.

Meanwhile, 16 more confirmed cases were reported in the country in the past day, the smallest daily jump in cases since June 8, 2020, raising the nationwide tally to 421,531, it showed.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgaria’s interim prime minister on Monday urged the government to redouble its efforts to fight endemic graft, calling for changes in prosecutors’ offices, the judiciary and all law enforcement agencies.

Prime Minister Stefan Yanev spoke at a meeting of the government security council that he convened to discuss new anti-corruption policies following U.S. sanctions on Bulgarian officials and businessmen for their allegedly “extensive” roles in corruption.