Bulgaria elects on the national level a head of state—the president—and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term directly by the people. The National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie) has 240 members elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. Bulgaria has a multi-party system in which often no party receives a required majority and parties must collaborate to form governments, generally via confidence and supply or coalition agreements.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 27 October 2024 to elect the members of the National Assembly. Parliamentary elections have been held in Bulgaria since 1879. There was a period when partisan politics was banned from 1934 to 1944; in the wake of the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1934 and the sequential personal rule of Tsar Boris III. There was also period of single party system between 1945 and 1989, during the People's Republic of Bulgaria, during which only candidates sanctioned by authorities could run. This, in practice, gave the Bulgarian Communist Party and its collaborators a monopoly on power.
Until 1945 there was no universal suffrage for the women. The table below show the elections since 1990, when the government became a democratic republic.
All elections since 1991 have had 240 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in multi-seat constituencies with a 4% threshold. The two elections that differed from this model was the 1990 Grand National Assembly election, where 400 representatives were elected: half by proportional representation and half by first-past-the-post voting. The other exception was the 2009 election when 209 representatives were elected by proportional representation and 31 through first past the post; seats corresponding to the provinces and the largest cities.
Presidential elections have been held since 1992. From 1996 onwards, presidential elections have been held every five years.
See main article: 2021 Bulgarian general election.
See main article: European Parliament elections in Bulgaria.
Four nationwide referendums have been held in Bulgaria since it gained its De Facto independence in 1878:
Several regional referendums have been held as well.
See main article: 2023 Bulgarian local elections.