Women in the Bulgarian Parliament: Representation on the Rise, But Still Under 1/3

Women make up 30.1% of the candidates for Members of Parliament in the April 19 elections, which is an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to the vote in October 2024, but their share remains below 1/3 of the total.

In the April elections, there are 1439 female candidates for MPs out of a total of 4786 people, while men are 69.9% (3347 candidates), the Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Rositsa Mateva announced on Thursday.

There will be 62 more female candidates for Members of Parliament in the upcoming elections compared to those at the end of 2024. However, the ratio remains in favor of men.

For the April vote, 69 fewer candidates for MPs have been registered compared to the one on October 27, 2024.

For comparison, in the elections on October 27, 2024, women were 28.4% - 1377 out of a total of 4855 candidates, and men - 71.6% - 3478 candidates.

The share of women in national parliaments in the European Union (EU)

The data for Bulgaria can be examined against the background of trends in the EU. The share of women in the national parliaments of the EU countries has increased over the last decade, with the exception of Germany, DPA reported in early March, citing data published yesterday by the European statistical agency Eurostat. 

In 2025, in Bulgaria, women make up 25% of the legislators, an increase of nearly 5.5 percentage points compared to 2015. 

Women held 33.6% of the seats in the national parliaments of the EU countries in 2025, which is 5.4 percentage points more compared to 2015, the data show.

Finland has the largest share of women in parliament in 2025 - 46%, followed by Sweden with 44.8% and Denmark with 44.7%. Cyprus has the lowest share - 14.3%, followed by Hungary with 15.6% and Romania with 22%.

In most EU countries, the share of women in national governments has also increased compared to 2015. The largest increase is observed in Finland. A decrease in the share of women has been registered in six EU countries: Romania, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. 

Candidates for MPs in the elections 

• July 11, 2021  - candidates for MPs - 5079, of which 1494 women and 3585 men.
• November 14, 2021 - candidates for MPs - 5067, of which 1515 women and 3552 men.
• October 2, 2022 - candidates for MPs - 6624, of which 1954 women and 4670 men.
• April 2, 2023 - candidates for MPs - 4566, of which 1341 women and 3225 men.
• June 9, 2024 - candidates for MPs - 6100, of which 1826 women and 4274 men.

In April it will be the eighth parliamentary vote since 2021. Regular parliamentary elections were held on April 4, 2021, followed by six early votes. The elections on April 19 will be the seventh early ones after the regular ones on April 4, 2021.