Gerb

According to the latest exit polls, the incumbent mayors of the cities of Ruse, Stara Zagora and Veliko Tarnovo were all reelected at the first round of the local elections, which were held in Bulgaria on Sunday.

Plamen Stoilov, the incumbent mayor of Ruse and candidate of the largest ruling party GERB, was reelected with 51 % of the votes.

According to the latest exit polls, run-offs for the mayors of the cities of Plovdiv, Shumen and Vidin are likely to take place as no candidate garnered more than 50 % of the votes at the first round of the local elections, which took place in Bulgaria on Sunday.

Conservative GERB party of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has mustered around 34.5% of the vote nationally, in the national election held on Sunday, a Gallup exit poll shows.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the main opposition force, comes second with 17.2% of ballots, followed by the liberal Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party, at 14.6%

With an astounding 83.7%, Dimitar Nikolov has been reelected for a third term in the Black Sea port city of Burgas as Bulgaria is holding local elections on Sunday, an Alpha Research poll suggests. 

A survey by rival Gallup agency puts support for Nikolov at 83.5%.

Nikolov, as in the previous (2011) vote, was backed by the main ruling GERB party of PM Boyko Borisov. 

The exit polls of Alpha Research polling agency suggest that the cities of Varna, Kardzhali and Blagoevgrad have reelected their incumbent mayors at the local elections held in Bulgaria on Sunday.

According to the exit polls as of 18 o'clock EET, Ivan Portnih, the incumbent mayor of Varna and candidate of the largest ruling party GERB, won the elections with 57.9 % of the votes.

The main candidates running for mayor of Sofia voted both in the local elections and referendum, which are being held simultaneously in Bulgaria on Sunday.

The incumbent mayor Yordanka Fandakova, who is running for a third term as candidate of the largest ruling party GERB, said that each citizen has to exercise the right to vote.

The leaders of the main parliamentary represented parties have voted in the local elections and the referendum, which are taking place in Bulgaria on Sunday.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the deputy chairperson of the largest ruling party GERB, voted in favour of sustaining the visible results in Sofia and Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisov expressed support on Wednesday for the reelection of Joseph Daul as president of the European People's Party (EPP).

Borisov is heading a delegation of Bulgaria's main ruling party to the XXIII Congress of EPP, which is taking place in Madrid on Wednesday and Thursday.

Maya Manolova, a former socialist MP and one-time Deputy Parliament Speaker, has assumed her duties as the National Ombudsman of Bulgaria.

At a ceremony also attended by Orthodox Church Members, she has taken over from Kostantin Penchev.

Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev has called on MPs to backtrack on amendments proposed to the military intelligence act which the Bulgarian President returned for consideration.

The changes sought and approved by a majority of MPs would have made the current head of the Defense Information Service (Bulgaria's military intelligence agency) Yordan Bakalov unfit for the office.