The sittings of the National Assembly were watched live on the Internet 350 000 times since this service was launched  in January 2010.

On average 12 000 Internet customers observe the work of the parliament through the Internet, 1000 more than last year. At peak times, when important bills are discussed, the number of viewers tuned in to the plenary simultaneously reaches 1000 from Bulgaria and around 500 from abroad. The ratio of users of this online service in Bulgaria and abroad is usually 2 to 1.

The website of the National Assembly also stores more than 2000 hours of past plenary sittings’ video recordings available to everyone around the world. Since December 2010 when the video archive system was launched, past sittings have been watched 140 000 times. The video archive is visited around 7000 times per month. Regular users of the service are information and news agencies. The ratio of consumers in Bulgaria and abroad is again 2 to 1. The embassies of the Republic of Bulgaria abroad watch regularly the real time broadcasting of the National Assembly.

In the period from August 2011 to August 2012 1000 hours more video recordings were added to the parliament’s web site video archive, while the visits reached 90 000. In the last year the plenary sittings have been watched live 150 000 times.

The decision to show the plenary sittings live through the Internet site of the parliament was stipulated with the adoption of the Rules and Procedures of the 41st National Assembly at the initiative of its President, Mrs. Tsetska Tsacheva. Thus Bulgarian citizens at home and abroad were given the opportunity to follow directly the work of the members of the parliament and provided for a more open and transparent legislative process. The project has been realized with the help of the Bulgarian National Television.