SOFIA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- GERB, the main party in the ruling coalition in Bulgaria, has won the country's parliamentary elections but lost its majority, according to final results announced early Friday morning.
GERB, which for the first time since its establishment in 2006 did not participate independently in parliamentary elections, received 25.80 percent of the votes, together with its partner Union of Democratic Forces, and they will have 75 seats in the 240-member National Assembly, the Central Election Commission said.
The newly established "There Is Such A People" came second with 17.40 percent of the votes and 51 seats, followed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party with 15.01 percent and 43 seats, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms with 10.36 percent and 30 seats, Democratic Bulgaria with 9.31 percent and 27 seats, and "Rise up! Thugs out!" with 4.72 percent and 14 seats.
GERB won 95 seats in the previous 2017 elections and formed a coalition government with the 27-seat group of the United Patriots. Their coalition was supported by the 12-seat Volya party, but the last two failed to pass the four-percent threshold this year.
The newly-elected National Assembly is expected to hold its first sitting within the next three weeks following Bulgarian parliamentary practice.
According to the Bulgarian constitution, the country's president shall appoint the prime minister-designate nominated by the party holding the highest number of seats in the National Assembly to form a government. Enditem
