Political outline

Executive Power

President is the chief of the state and is directly elected for a 5-year term. President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. President nominates the Prime Minister who is elected by the National Assembly. Prime Minister as Chairman of the Council of Ministers holds the executive powers and is also the head of the government. Prime Minister nominates the Council of Ministers.The Council of Ministers is the principal organ of the executive branch. The Council of Ministers must resign if the National Assembly passes a vote of no confidence in the Council or the Prime Minister.

Legislative Power

Bulgaria has a unicameral parliament. The members of the parliament (called National Assembly) are elected for 4-year-terms by popular vote. A political party or coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter the National Assembly. Parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the prime minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements. Bulgarian citizens enjoy considerable political rights.

Main political parties

Bulgaria has a multi-party system, where no single party generally has a chance of gaining power alone. Thus political parties work with each other to form coalition governments. However, the major political parties in the country are:
- BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party)- socialist, draws its support from rural areas, earlier Bulgarian Communist Party;
- MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms)- centrist, liberal , formed mainly from the Turkish ethnic minority;
- SNM (National Movement Simeon II)- liberal, centred around the former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg;
- UtdDF (United Democratic Forces)- an alliance of anti-communist parties;
- ATAKA (Attack Coalition) - a group of nationalist parties, opposes ethnic minorities, advocates stronger ties with Russia.

Current political leaders

President: Rossen PLEVNELIEV (since 22 January 2012) – Independant
Prime Minister: Boyko Borisov (since July 2009) – GERB

Next election dates

Presidential: 2016