Bulgaria goes to the polls for first European elections  

Bulgaria goes to the polls on Sunday 20 May for its first-ever European elections held across the country. They will be electing 18 MEPs who will sit in the European Parliament until June 2009. The mandate of an MEP is usually 5 years, but because Bulgaria and its neighbour Romania joined half way through the 2004-2009 mandate their MEPs will serve out the rest of the term. Since they joined the EU this year they have been represented by "temporary" MEPs nominated by their national Parliaments.

Persuading Bulgaria's 6.7 million potential voters to participate on Sunday 20 May is crucial. Ahead of the elections Parliament's President Hans-Gert Pöttering appealed for people to participate saying that "this is a very important date for the Bulgarian people because elections are at the heart of democracy. Having been myself a Member of the European Parliament since 1979, I have personally experienced six direct EP elections and I would like to call on all Bulgarian citizens to take part in this important vote".
  
The results will be known on 23 May and a full list of the 18 elected Members will be available on 25 May.
  
The first direct elections to the European took place in 1979. The current group of MEPs were elected in 2004 on a five year mandate and have already passed legislation on two of the most important and controversial issues ever put before the European Parliament - the Services Directive and the Reach chemicals regulation.
  
Romania goes the polls later in the autumn to elect their 35 Members of the European Parliament.  
  
Reproduced with the permission of the European Parliament REF.: 20070514STO06593