A total of seventy one political parties have submitted documents with the electoral body to join the race in Bulgaria's snap general elections in May.

The deadline expired at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 27.

Parties had to collect 7 000 signatures and a deposit of BGN 10 000 which they will get back if they overcome a threshold of 0.1% from the entire vote.

The deadline for registering coalitions or changing their membership is 5 pm on April 1. The same deadline is valid for initiative committees nominating independent candidates. These candidates, on their part, must register with the district electoral committees by April 9.

The deadline for changing a coalition by removing a party from it is 5 pm on April 6.

The Bulgarian Communist Party has been refused registration as CEC established they failed to collect 7 000 signatures. Others, which did not make the cut, are Formation Reform and the Pobeda (Victory) party. Another far-right party, however, the Communist Party of Bulgaria is going to run for seats in the Parliament.

On February 21, Bulgaria's Parliament approved the resignation of Borisov's GERB government amidst unprecedented since 1997 protest rallies against sky-high utility bills, monopolies, stagnation, corruption and wide-spread poverty, which later turned into a civil unrest and political demands.

Snap general election is to be held May 12, just two months ahead of the regular date in July.

President, Rosen Plevneliev, named the caretaker government on March 12.