he Republic of Bulgaria is a country in the southeast of ____

The Bulgarian unicameral parliament, the National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie, consists of 240 deputies who are elected for 4-year-term stretches by a popular vote. The votes are for party or coalition lists of candidates for each of the twenty eight administrative divisions. A party or coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. The parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval

of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the Prime Minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements. The last elections took place on 25th June 2005.

(NMS), and the Moement for Rights and Freedoms.

The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as a Supreme Court of Cassation. In addition, there is a Supreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts. The Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Supreme Administrative Court and the Prosecutor General are elected by a qualified majority of two thirds from all the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and therefore are Nappointed by the President

of the Republic. The Supreme Judicial Council is in charge of the self-administration and organisation of the Judiciary.

According to the 2001 census, Bulgaria's population is mainly ethnic Bulgarian (83.9%), with two sizable minorities in the form of Turks (9.4%) and Roma (4.7%). Of the remaining 2.0%, 0.9% are distributed among some forty smaller minorities. 84.8% of the Bulgarian population speaks Bulgarian, a member of the Slavic languages, as native language. Bulgarian is the only official language, but other languages are spoken, corresponding closely to ethnic breakdown. Most Bulgarians (82.6%) are at least nominally a member of the

the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the national Eastern Orthodox church. Other religious denominations include Islam (12.2%), Roman Catholicism (0.6%), various Protestant denominations (0.5%), atheists and undeclared numbering ca. 4.1%.