Die Europa- und Parlamentswahlen 2009 in Bulgarien
The Bulgarian Elections to the European Parliament and the National Parliament in 2009

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the elections to the European Parliament and the elections to the National Assembly in Bulgaria held on 7 June and 5 July 2009, respectively. First, it outlines the major developments of the Bulgarian party system during the past four years. Second, the reform of the parliamentary election law and the subsequent constitutional court decision are investigated. Finally, the article analyzes the results of the elections, electoral behaviour and voter migration, as well as the formation of the new government. Special attention is paid on the problems of the so-called “controlled vote”, i.e. several illegal influences to the results like vote buying or “voters tourism”. In addition to the personal charisma of Bulgaria’s new Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, two main factors are identified as decisive for the GERB party’s election victories: the widespread belief that politics makes no difference fed by the “transition consensus” and the EU accession process, and the serious confidence crisis of the Bulgarian political institutions and elites.

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