2026 Bulgarian parliamentary election
Updated: Wikipedia source
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 19 April 2026 to elect 240 members of the National Assembly. The vote was triggered by the resignation of the Zhelyazkov government on 11 December 2025 following widespread anti-corruption protests. It marked the country's seventh snap election since April 2021, the result of a five-year political crisis in Bulgaria. Key campaign issues included political corruption, the cost of living, foreign electoral interference, and allegations of vote buying. The political scene was shifted significantly by the January 2026 resignation of President Rumen Radev, who entered parliamentary politics by forming the centre-left populist Progressive Bulgaria (PB) coalition. Radev campaigned on a platform to dismantle the oligarchic system. The pro-European conservative GERB–SDS and the liberal We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (PP–DB) entered the race as the largest established blocs. In an election that saw an increase in voter turnout at 51.2%, PB obtained a landslide victory with 44.6% of the vote. This resulted in an absolute majority of seats, which observers suggested could resolve the prolonged political crisis. Most other parties lost seats, and nearly 20% of the total vote went to parties that failed to meet the 4% electoral threshold. While PP–DB gained one seat, GERB–SDS lost half of its support and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) recorded its weakest result since 1994. Moreover, the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP)-led BSP – United Left (BSP–OL) alliance finished short of the threshold, leaving it with no seats in the National Assembly for the first time since its foundation in 1991. As a result, the BSP, successor of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BKP), will not be represented in the National Assembly for the first time since the end of Communism in Bulgaria. Every far-right party except Revival (which lost 60% of its seats) also fell out of the Assembly. Analysts characterized the result as a win for Eurosceptic and pro-Russian sentiment, citing Radev's previous criticism of the European Union (EU) and his willingness to pursue relations with Russia. These positions drew comparisons to the governments of Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Robert Fico in Slovakia, although such characterizations remained a subject of debate. Following his victory, Radev received congratulations from both EU and Russian leadership, and maintained that his administration would pursue a pragmatic foreign policy.