Bulgaria Parliamentary Elections on July 5

President Georgi Parvanov will issue a decree scheduling parliamentary elections for Bulgaria for July 5, his office said on Tuesday after Purvanov held consultations with all political parties represented in the current parliament.

All but one of the parties in parliament agree on the date. The right-wing party in opposition, the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, wanted elections to be hold on June 28.

By law, the campaign will last 21 days. A controversial change to the Elections Law adopted on April 14 has raised the threshold for political parties to enter parliament. Parties must now get eight per cent of the vote in order to enter parliaments, up from the previous four per cent.

Another change stipulates that 31 out of the 240 MPs will be elected by majority vote.