Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 1 of 17 BulgariaFREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2020 80 FREE /100 Political Rights 34 Civil Liberties 46 80 Free Global freedom statuses are calculated on a weighted scale. See the methodology. TOP Overview https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 2 of 17 Bulgaria’s democratic system holds competitive elections and has seen several transfers of power in recent decades. The country continues to struggle with political corruption and organized crime. The media sector is less pluralistic, as ownership concentration has considerably increased in the last 10 years. Journalists encounter threats and even violence in the course of their work and are sometimes fired for not following the editorial line. Ethnic minorities, particularly Roma, face discrimination. Despite funding shortages and other obstacles, civil society groups have been active and influential. Key Developments in 2019 • In December, the parliament reinstituted the state subsidies for political parties, which had controversially been cut in July. The July amendment to the Political Parties Act also lifted the ceiling on donations for political parties by private persons, businesses, and other organizations. • In September, the director general of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) removed a prominent journalist from a live-broadcast and suspended BNR programming for an unprecedented five hours. Civil society’s strong reaction prompted the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the events. BNR’s director was ousted in October. • In September, an outcry from right-wing political groups claimed the judiciary’s independence was threatened, after an Australian national, convicted of killing a law student in 2007, was granted parole. The groups called for the dissolution of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee due to its role in providing legal assistance to the convicted man. Political Rights TOP A. Electoral Process A1 0-4 pts https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 3 of 17 Was the current head of government or other chief national authority elected through free and fair elections? 4 The president, who is directly elected for up to two five-year terms, is the head of state but has limited powers. In 2016, former air force commander Rumen Radev—an independent supported by the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)—defeated parliament speaker Tsetska Tsacheva of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, taking more than 59 percent of the vote. The election was generally well administered, and stakeholders accepted the results. The legislature chooses the prime minister, who serves as head of government. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, of the center-right GERB, returned to office after his party’s victory in the 2017 parliamentary elections. A2 0-4 pts Were the current national legislative representatives elected through free and fair elections? 4 The unicameral National Assembly, with 240 members, is elected every four years in 31 multimember constituencies. The 2017 elections were deemed free and fair by international observers. GERB led with 95 seats, followed by the BSP with 80, the nationalist United Patriots alliance with 27, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) with 26, and the right-wing populist Volya with 12. Following the elections, a coalition government of GERB and the United Patriots took office. A3 0-4 pts Are the electoral laws and framework fair, and are they implemented TOP impartially by the relevant election management bodies? 3 https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 4 of 17 The Central Election Commission administers Bulgarian elections and generally works professionally and impartially, though some flaws have been reported in past elections. The parliament passed controversial reforms to the electoral laws in 2016, introducing compulsory voting and new rules on voting abroad that limited the number of polling places and led to protests throughout the diaspora. In 2017, the Constitutional Court struck down the law on compulsory voting. Changes to the electoral system in a 2016 referendum, such as the introduction of a majoritarian system for parliamentary elections, were supported by a majority of voters yet failed to reach the turnout threshold for the vote to be binding. B. Political Pluralism and Participation B1 0-4 pts Do the people have the right to organize in different political parties or other competitive political groupings of their choice, and is the system free of undue obstacles to the rise and fall of these 4 competing parties or groupings? Bulgaria’s party system is competitive and quite volatile, featuring both long- term players like the BSP and DPS, as well as cycles in which new parties emerge while others decline or disappear. GERB first won seats in the parliament only in 2009, and the 2017 elections featured the emergence of the United Patriots alliance with 27 seats. A controversial clause of the 2016 referendum—cutting state subsidiesTOP for political parties—was enacted by Parliament in July 2019. Parliament also amended the Political Parties Act, removing the ceiling on donations to political parties by private persons, businesses, and other organizations, https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 5 of 17 without introducing any further requirements on spending or reporting standards. Major opposition party BSP and other political experts criticized these changes, seeing their potential to undermine political pluralism and encourage corrupt practices. In December, after the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concerns about these amendments, Parliament voted to partially reinstate the state subsidy for political parties. However, no restrictions on private donations were reintroduced. B2 0-4 pts Is there a realistic opportunity for the opposition to increase its support or gain power through elections? 4 There have been multiple peaceful transfers of power between rival parties through elections since the end of communist rule in 1990. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the BSP, currently the main opposition party, gained 41 seats compared with the previous balloting. At the European Parliament elections in May 2019, BSP gained an additional seat (currently 5). B3 0-4 pts Are the people’s political choices free from domination by forces that are external to the political sphere, or by political forces that 3 employ extrapolitical means? Bulgarians are generally free to make independent political choices. However, economic oligarchs dominate the major political parties and influence their platforms, a problem that is exacerbated by a lack of transparency in campaign finance law and the lack of limits to private donations for political parties that was lifted in July 2019. TOP B4 0-4 pts 3 https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 6 of 17 Do various segments of the population (including ethnic, religious, gender, LGBT, and other relevant groups) have full political rights and electoral opportunities? While marginalized groups generally have full political rights, the law dictates that electoral campaigns must be conducted in the Bulgarian language, which hinders outreach to non-Bulgarian-speaking minority groups. The ethnic Turkish minority is represented by the DPS, but the Roma are more marginalized. Small Romany parties are active, and many Roma reportedly vote for the DPS, though none hold seats in the parliament. Members of far- right nationalist parties, including the United Patriots, engage in hate speech against Roma, ethnic Turks, Jews, Muslims, migrants, and refugees, among other groups, particularly during election periods, raising concerns about the normalization of xenophobia and discrimination. There are currently 62 women in the 240-seat parliament, and the representation of women in politics remains an issue. Further problems come from the influence of oligarchs on the vote in smaller municipalities and within marginalized groups in particular, an issue that is called the “controlled vote.” C. Functioning of Government C1 0-4 pts Do the freely elected head of government and national legislative representatives determine the policies of the government? 4 Elected executive and legislative officials are generally able to set and implement policies without undue interference from external or unelectedTOP entities. However, oligarch politicians dominate the government and greatly influence policymaking. https://freedomhouse.org/country/bulgaria/freedom-world/2020 7/24/2020 Bulgaria | Freedom House Page 7 of 17 C2 0-4 pts Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 2 Bulgaria, which joined the European Union (EU) in 2007, has struggled to meet the bloc’s anticorruption requirements amid resistance from much of the political class. Anticorruption laws are not adequately enforced, including in high-profile cases, contributing to a culture of impunity. The country remains subject to long-term monitoring by the EU’s cooperation and verification mechanism, whose annual reports have called for new legislative efforts to combat corruption. In January 2018, the parliament overrode a presidential veto and adopted legislation that created a centralized anticorruption