Chamber:
	Narodno Sobranie
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	18 December 1994
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament following the premature dissolution of this body on 17 October 1994.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 8 September 1994, the Cabinet of Prime Minister Liuben Berov – who had been in office since December 1992 at the head of a non-party “government of experts” – resigned after having been the subject of several motions of no confidence which had led to a largely hamstrung Parliament. On 17 October, President of the Republic Zhelio Zhelev dissolved the National Assembly and called for early elections. Ms. Reneta Indzhova thereupon became Bulgaria’s first woman Prime Minister in a caretaker capacity. The December general elections were the third to be held since the transition to a multiparty system in 1990. Main contestants for the 240 Assembly seats were the formerly communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which had held power until the general elections of October 1991 and which was led by Mr. Zhan Videnov; and the staunchly anti-communist Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), the largest group in the outgoing legislature headed by Mr. Filip Dimitrov but increasingly weakened by splits within its ranks. Debate during the month-long campaign focused to a great extent on economic issues, the BSP favouring deliberate free-market reforms and vowing to counter the country’s decline in this sector, as well as social policy questions. Polling day, marked by an abstention rate of some 25%, resulted in a large victory for the BSP which, together with two minor allies, gained control of an absolute majority 125 seats to the centre-right UDF’s 69. Observers interpreted this outcome as reflecting popular discontent over lingering economic instability (especially continued high inflation and unemployment rates) and falling living standards, as well as expectations for more active security and social policies, and compared it to the ex-communists’ resurgence in recent polling held in Lithuania, Poland and Hungary. Altogether five parties or groups – including three smaller centrist ones – arrived at the threshold of 4% required for membership of Parliament: a greater overall representativity than in the previous legislature. On 25 January 1995, the National Assembly approved a new BSP-dominated Cabinet. The same day, Prime Minister Videnov, aged 35, announced that his Government’s priorities would be to overcome the economic crisis, reduce the alarming crime rate, promote European integration and improve bilateral relations with other European nations.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (18 December 1994): Elections results
Number of registered electors	6,997,954
Voters	5,264,614 (75.23%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	62,549
Valid votes	5,202,065

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)	315	2,262,943	43.50
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF)	311	1,260,374	24.23
People’s Union/Bulgarian Agrarian National Union/Democratic Party	266	338,478	6.51
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS)	193	283,094	5.44
Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB)	123	245,849	4.73
Democratic Alternative for the Republic (DAR)	259	197,057	3.79
Other parties	3,319	601,709	11.56
Independents	8	12,561	0.24

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)	125
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF)	69
People’s Union/Bulgarian Agrarian National Union/Democratic Party	18
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS)	15
Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB)	13
Democratic Alternative for the Republic (DAR)	0
Other parties	0
Independents	0

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	208
Women:	32

Distribution of seats according to age:
25-34 years	25
35-44 years	92
45-54 years	64
55-64 years	38
Over 65 years	21
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Jurists	40
University and research	36
Engineers	27
Economists	18
Journalists	15
Doctors	14
Teachers	10
Others	80