The 7th parliamentary elections in four years were held in Bulgaria. The party of ex-prime minister Borissov is in the lead

On October 27, Bulgaria held its 7th parliamentary elections in the last four years. They are led by the center-right CEDB party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

This is evidenced by the data on the website of the Election Center of the country.

According to the calculation of 93% of the votes, the coalition of the party "Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria" and the "Union of Democratic Forces" (CEDB-UDF) received the support of 26% of voters.

The second place is occupied by the pro-Western liberal-conservative alliance of the "Continuing Changes" and "Democratic Bulgaria" (СС — DB) parties, which gained almost 15%.

In third place is the pro-Russian and nationalist Eurosceptic party "Renaissance", which won the support of 13% of voters.

This is followed by the “Movement for Rights and Freedoms — New Beginnings” (MRF-NB) — 10%, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) — 7.7%, the “Alliance for Rights and Freedoms” — 7%, and “There is such a people” — almost 7 %.

Two new parties were also elected to the newly convened Bulgarian parliament: MUH ("Morality, Unity, Honor"), which opposes support for Ukraine, won 4.7% of voters, as well as the right-wing populist Velich, which won 4% of the vote.

Commenting on the possibility of creating a coalition, Boyko Borissov said that potential coalition partners could be all parties, except for "Renaissance".

Political crisis in Bulgaria

A protracted political crisis continues in Bulgaria. The fact is that political factions cannot create a stable governing coalition. It all started in 2020, when anti-bribery protests helped break up the coalition led by the center-right “Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria” (CEDB) party. The European state held parliamentary elections in April, July and November 2021, as well as in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

At the beginning of June 2023, the two largest groups of the Bulgarian parliament, "Continuing Changes — Democratic Bulgaria" and "Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria" concluded an agreement with the "Union of Democratic Forces". The then Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Maria Gabriel were supposed to hold the posts of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in rotation for nine months.

In March 2024, Denkov and his government resigned. However, Gabriel withdrew her candidacy for the position of prime minister after long negotiations between CEDB and the Alliance "Continuing Changes — Democratic Bulgaria". Gabriel explained her actions by the "coordinated refusal" of 11 ministers to participate in her proposed government and the "lack of agreement on further negotiations".

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