Vote counting in Bulgarian elections complete. Pro-Russian ex-presidentʼs party wins absolute majority of seats

Bulgariaʼs parliamentary elections have seen 100% of votes counted, with the “Progressive Bulgaria” party of former President Rumen Radev winning. As head of state, he was reluctant to condemn Moscowʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine, criticized EU sanctions and opposed Bulgariaʼs entry into the eurozone.

This is known from the data of the countryʼs Central Election Commission.

“Progressive Bulgaria” received 44.59% (1 444 924 votes). According to estimates by the Bulgarian media bTV, it will receive an absolute majority — 130 out of 240 seats in parliament.

Second place went to GERB-SDS (13.39%), third to the coalition “Continuing Changes – Democratic Bulgaria” (12.62%), fourth to the “Movement for Rights and Freedoms” (7.12%), and fifth to “Renaissance” (4.26%). All of them are pro-European centrist political forces, except for “Renaissance” which is an ultra-right pro-Russian party.

Bulgaria is an important supplier of weapons to Ukraine. For example, on August 30, 2025, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that a third of all weapons that Ukraine received at the beginning of the full-scale war came from Bulgaria.

And on March 30, 2026, Bulgaria’s acting Prime Minister Andrey Hyurov and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a ten-year agreement on security cooperation between the countries. It stipulates that Bulgaria will invest in the production of weapons for Ukraine under the SAFE program, join PURL to support Ukraine’s air defense, the countries will work to launch an energy corridor through Bulgaria by the end of the year, and the country will also join the demining of the Black Sea.

• These are the eighth parliamentary elections in Bulgaria in five years. In December 2025, the government of then Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov resigned due to mass protests in the country: citizens were dissatisfied with the 2026 budget and the planned transition to the euro.
• President Radev subsequently resigned and formed his own political party to run in parliamentary elections. Radev was elected President of Bulgaria in 2016 and was re-elected in 2021. In his position, he repeatedly opposed arms supplies to Ukraine and blocked sanctions against Russia. In particular, in December 2023, Radev vetoed the parliamentʼs decision to provide Ukraine with 100 decommissioned armored personnel carriers free of charge.

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