site.btaBulgarians in Hungary Elect National and Local Minority Self-Governments

A new 15-member National Bulgarian Self-Government (NBSG) in Hungary was elected by 800 votes out of 874 votes cast. Dancho Musev, who topped the list of candidates, was re-elected as NBSG Chair, according to information published by the National Election Commission (NEC) of Hungary. A total of 1,391 members of the Bulgarian community had registered for the election. Turnout was 70.88%. There were 74 invalid votes.

On its website, the NEC has published the final results in most of the 30 locations where members of the Bulgarian minority voted in the self-government elections. The voting took place in the Hungarian capital Budapest and other cities and towns (Pecs, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged, Halasztelek), where the Bulgarians are largely descended from migrant gardeners and other professionals.

Approached by BTA before the elections, Musev said that all adult Bulgarians in Hungary could vote in the minority self-government elections, in locations where at least 30 people identified themselves as Bulgarian in the latest population census. In addition to the NBSG, they also elected local self-governments. The NBSG is their supreme self-government body, which has a budget planned as a portion of Hungary's state budget and supports Bulgarian schools and kindergartens.

The Local Bulgarian Self-Government in Budapest has seven members and was elected by 395 voters.

In Halasztelek, the voter list named 157 eligible voters, who elected a five-member local self-government. Its longtime leader Nikola Kusev was re-elected.

The earliest Bulgarian settlers in Halasztelek and the Budapest area came here in the 19th century. Nowadays, there are 150 Bulgarians in the 12,000-population town of Halasztelek. A Bulgarian monument stands in the town centre, not far from the school and in front of the Catholic church. It represents a water wheel for farm land irrigation, a device introduced to the area by Bulgarian gardeners.