Boiko Borissov’s party the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, known by its Bulgarian abbreviation as GERB, got 41 per cent of the vote in the country’s July 5 2009 national parliamentary elections, according to exit polls released moments by Sova Harris on Bulgarian National Television after polls closed.
 
Sergei Stanishev’s Bulgarian Socialist Party-dominated Coalition for Bulgaria, currently the majority partner in the tripartite coalition Cabinet, got 17.9 per cent.
 
Ahmed Dogan’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms got 11.3 per cent, Volen Siderov’s ultra-nationalist Ataka party nine per cent, and the centre-right Blue Coalition – seen as a likely first choice of a coalition partner for GERB,  7.7 per cent.
 
Yane Yanev’s Order Law and Justice got 4.6 per cent, LIDER four per cent and Simeon Saxe-Coburg’s National Movement for Stability and Progress three per cent, according to Sova Harris.
 
The threshold for parties and coalitions to get into Parliament is four per cent.

Alfa Research said that there would be six parties in the next National Assembly. Its exit poll gave GERB 38.5 per cent, BSP 18.4 per cent, the MRF 13.5 per cent, Ataka 9.2 per cent, and the Blue Coalition 7.5 per cent. This put GERB and the Blue Coalition in a position to come up with a governing coalition, according to Alfa Research.

Gallup's exit poll gave GERB 41.8 per cent, BSP 17.1 per cent, MRF 11.6 per cent, Ataka 8.8 per cent and the Blue Coalition 7.9 per cent, private broadcaster Darik Radio said.

MBMD gave GERB 38 per cent, BSP 17 per cent, MRF 14 per cent, Ataka 10 per cent and the Blue Coalition eight per cent, Bulgarian news agency Focus said.

The National Centre for Public Opinion research said that Borissov's party won 39 per cent, the BSP 18, the MRF 14, Ataka nine, OLJ and LIDER each 4.1 per cent and the NMSP 3.5 per cent.
 
Voter turnout was 60.2 per cent, according to official figures at 7pm, as predicted, a significant advance on turnout in Bulgaria’s June 7 2009 European Parliament elections.
 
President Georgi Purvanov has said that he will convene the first sitting of the country’s unicameral Parliament, the 240-seat National Assembly, on July 14.
 
The major task ahead for the country’s political leaders will be coming up with a governing coalition, a task that commentators have repeated in recent weeks will not be an easy one.
 
Procedurally, section electoral commissions have to deliver the tally sheets to the constituency electoral commissions within 24 hours after the close of the polls.
 
The constituency commissions must deliver the tally sheets to the Central Election Commission (CEC) within 48 hours after the receipt of the last voting-section sheet.
 
The CEC must declare the votes received and the allocation of seats on July 9.
 
Candidates elected in two multi-member constituencies have until July 10 to opt for a list on which they wish to remain elected. The CEC will name the elected MPs on July 12 and will publish the election results on August 14, Bulgarian news agency BTA said. 
 
The election was by a mixture of proportional representation and majoritarian voting.
 
In the July 5 election, 6.88 million Bulgarian citizens were eligible to vote.
 
In the country, there were 11 633 voting sections, and for the election, the country was divided into 31 multi-member constituencies – three in Sofia city region, two in Plovdiv region, and 26 administrative regions.
 
Electronic voting was introduced for the first time in nine polling stations in Sofia, Bulgarian National Radio said. These stations were equipped with special cards and an automatic system to count the votes. Voters choosing to vote electronically were issued a special magnetic card.
 
Another novelty this year will be the mobile polling stations for people with disabilities.
 
Voting stations were set up in 58 foreign countries, with the most voting stations – 123 – in Turkey, followed by 19 in the United States, 17 in Spain, 10 in Germany, six in France and Cyprus each and four in Canada. Bulgarian military personnel on duty in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo were also able to vote.
 
About 57 000 Bulgarians registered to vote abroad.
 
The elections were contested by 14 parties and four coalitions; 4652 candidates: 4295 nominated by parties and coalitions on proportional-representation lists for 209 seats and 357 majoritarian candidates (353 party- or coalition- nominated and 4 independents) for 31 seats, BTA said. 
 
Election day also saw a continuation of prosecutions for vote-buying, after it emerged on July 2 that the State Agency for National Security and Interior Ministry had gone after people allegedly involved in vote-buying and vote-selling in the European Parliament elections.