The results of the local elections held in Bulgaria on 25 October are not conclusive and there will be some run-offs, yet some principal conclusions can now be drawn.

The local elections do not alter the balance of political forces substantially – GERB continues as the leading political force in the country with 32 percent of the votes, followed by the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party with 13 and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 12 percent.

The results of the Reformist Bloc which forms part of the coalition government - 9 percent – added to the results of the forces that support the coalition in parliament – the ABV with 4 percent, VMRO – 3 percent, the National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria – 2 percent, sumtotal 18 percent, allowing GERB to continue at the executive helm, albeit at times with “floating” support. Thus, against the backdrop of the economic crisis and the unprecedented migrant wave, Bulgaria continues as a politically stable country.

The political forces may have preserved the positions they had at the 2014 elections, yet they are all losers in terms of absolute number of votes – GERB lost around 50,000 votes, the Bulgarian Socialist Party – 12,000, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – almost 87,000, the Reformist Bloc – 25,000, the Patriotic Front – 85,000 and Ataka – 56,000. Without being overly dramatic, these figures are not to be underestimated, reason enough for the political parties to set their clocks by the electorate.

But the most important reason to do so are actually the results of the national referendum on whether to introduce electronic voting – some 71 percent of all votes cast are “for” even though the political forces have been so reticent with regard to the referendum as a form of direct democracy and despite the unprecedented cyber-attack on the websites of the Central Electoral Commission, the Interior Ministry, the Information Services and Technology Directorate and the Directorate General Civil Registration and Administrative Services by opponents to electronic voting, apparently as an illustration of just how unreliable it is. With around 35 percent of all possible voters taking part in the referendum, the turnout is a far cry from that registered at the latest general election – the exigible threshold that makes the results valid; yet it is sufficient for submitting and debating the referendum results in parliament. The debate will certainly have the political forces reconsidering the reservations they have regarding the referendum; many observers have been commenting that the idea of putting important matters up for public debate using this form of direct democracy has slowly, but surely been gaining momentum.

Combining different kinds of elections with a referendum, an idea that is new to Bulgaria, is also gaining ground. According to many, holding a referendum on electronic voting alongside local elections was not a good idea, yet Sunday’s results have shown that this is not so, with 98 percent of the people who cast their vote in the referendum voting in the local elections, and 88 percent of the people who voted at the local elections casting their vote in the referendum. Sociologists say that these figures mean that had the referendum been held separately, the turnout for the local elections would not have been so high.

Ultimately, the local elections on 25 October, in combination with a referendum, may not have brought about any significant political change in Bulgaria or eradicated some typical flaws in the election process; still they are one more building block in the country’s democratic experience.

English Milena Daynova