Fourteen political parties and coalition and three independent candidates have been registered to join the race for Bulgaria's first European parliamentarians (EP) on May 20, reported Sofia News Agency on Saturday.

The deadline for registration at the Central Electoral Committee expired at 7 pm local time on Saturday.

The political parties, which wanted to enroll their bids for the EP elections, had to deposit 15,000 lev (10,200 U.S. dollars) and a sign-up in their support, made up of 15,000 signatures, while the figures for the coalitions and initiative committees -- 20,000 lev (13,700 dollars) with 20,000 signatures, and figures for independent runners -- 10,000 lev (6,800 dollars) and 10,000 signatures.

The official election will be held on May 20.

Currently Bulgaria has 18 European Parliamentarians at the European Parliament. They enjoy full-fledged rights, but are delegated by their parliamentary represented parties instead of elected by general suffrage.

Source: Xinhua