Spoilt for choice, yet hard to get : voters and parties at the Bulgarian 2005 parliamentary election

The June 2005 parliamentary election in Bulgaria produced the most fragmented and variegated political configuration since the beginning of the transition period, as seven parties and coalitions managed to carve out parliamentary presence in the 40th National Assembly. The election result may lead to a restructuring of the Bulgarian political system and has once again called into question its stability at a critical time
when the country was preparing for EU membership. The Bulgarian Socialist Party as part of Coalition for Bulgaria was returned to office after eight years in opposition but its lacklustre performance at the polls left it looking for coalition partners from the centre of the party system. The parties on the right were soundly defeated while the centrist formation of the Bulgarian ex-king, National Movement Simeon II, came a
respectable second. One surprise from the election was the breakthrough of the first anti-establishment formation in Bulgaria, Coalition Union Attack, which leapfrogged to fourth place in the running parliament. A second surprise was the doubling of the votes for the Turkish minority party in Bulgaria, Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which achieved its best election result since the party was formed.