On September 30, 1879, the first regular parliamentary elections were held in the Principality of Bulgaria. The vote was scheduled by Decree No. 126 of Prince Alexander I Battenberg of August 29 of the same year and was for the First Ordinary National Assembly. In some places, the election process continued on October 7.
This is an important difference in the historical chronology: the elections for the Constituent Assembly in January 1879 were the earlier parliamentary vote after the Liberation, but the September elections were the first regular elections for the Ordinary National Assembly.
The vote between liberals and conservatives
The elections were held under the terms of the newly adopted Tarnovo Constitution. According to its provisions, representatives of the people are elected one for every 10,000 people, and men over 30 have the right to vote. Voter turnout was about 32 percent.
The main political forces were the liberals and conservatives. The Liberal Party, associated with Petko Karavelov, Dragan Tsankov, Petko R. Slaveykov and Stefan Stambolov, won more than 70 percent of the vote. Among the reasons for the low turnout are low literacy and the lack of established electoral experience in the young state.
The voting method also looks different from today's. In places, instead of paper ballots, beans of different colors or types are used. “This is the technology of the vote itself, due to the extremely low literacy rate“, explains Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Gruev, Chairman of the State Agency “Archives“. According to him, in some cases, voting is done with beans and corn.
The First Ordinary National Assembly
158 deputies were elected. The first session of the assembly was held on October 21, 1879, and Petko Karavelov was elected its chairman. The National Assembly met in Sofia, in the building known as the Clock House on “Moskovska“ Street.
Among the tasks of the parliament are the discussion and adoption of bills, voting on the state budget, taxes and state loans. However, the political opposition between the liberals and conservatives quickly escalated. On November 24, 1879, Prince Alexander I dissolved the assembly.
During its short existence, the First Ordinary National Assembly did not adopt a bill. However, it remained in history as the beginning of regular parliamentary life in Bulgaria. Among its decisions was the proposal for the construction of the temple-monument “Alexander Nevsky“.
Sources: Bulgarian National Radio, bTV Novinite