The coalition of supporters of former President Rumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria has won the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria with 44.6 per cent of the votes, the Central Election Commission said after counting 100 per cent of the protocols.
The Herb-SDS party of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov got 13.4 per cent, the coalition of “continuing changes – Democratic Bulgaria” got 12.6 per cent, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) got 7.12 per cent and the Renaissance Party got 4.3 per cent of the votes.
These political forces break the 4 per cent threshold.
In the winter of 2026, Radev announced his resignation from the presidency, which he was to hold until January 2027, to run for election and become prime minister.
Bulgaria’s elections were held for the eighth time in the last five years. There are many factions in parliament, and the winners of the elections have failed to win a majority or form stable coalitions. The last coalition lasted almost a year until protests against the new budget and corruption forced it to resign in December.
Opponents and some Western analysts describe former President Radev as a pro-Russian politician. He has previously made statements against sanctions against Russia and met with Russian figures. A year ago, Radev spoke at the Munich Security Conference recalling the “Kissinger Plan”, i.e. the ceding of part of Ukrainian territories “in exchange for a sovereign, democratic and free Ukraine”. Radev called for “fighting for what is realistically possible.”
In March 2023, at an EU summit discussing the purchase of 1 million shells for Ukraine, Radev did not agree to Sofia’s participation in the programme and also spoke out against the supply of Bulgarian ammunition to Ukraine via third countries.