General elections were held in Bulgaria on 14 November 2021 to elect both the President and the National Assembly.[1][2] They were the country's third parliamentary elections in 2021, with no party able to form a government after the elections in April and July.[3][4] A second round of the presidential elections were held on 21 November 2021 as no candidate was able to receive a majority of the vote in the first round.[5][6]
We Continue the Change won the most seats, although it was not a majority. Shortly after the election, they announced that coalition talks were going to be held.[7] Incumbent president Rumen Radev gathered 66.72% of the vote, defeating university professor Anastas Gerdzhikov in a runoff.[8]
Nationwide turnout in the parliamentary and first presidential round fell to 38% Bulgaria's lowest participation rate in 30 years for both presidential and legislative elections.[9] Nationwide turnout in the second presidential round experienced another drop, featuring only 33% of registered voters.[10]
The leaders of PP, BSP, ITN, and DB announced on 10 December that they had agreed to form a coalition that would end a months-long political crisis. President Radev shortly after announced that he had given the mandate to form a government to Petkov.[11] On 12 December, Kiril Petkov presented the composition of the incoming government, and it was approved on 13 December by the National Assembly.[12]
The previous parliamentary election which was held in July 2021, resulted in a narrow victory for the newly established There Is Such A People (ITN) over the ruling GERB party;[13] however, ITN won only 65 out of 240 seats in the National Assembly of Bulgaria.[13] Following the elections, ITN opted to try and form a minority government and started talks with potential partners (DB, IBG-NI, and BSP) in order to secure their support. Nevertheless, these attempts proved unsuccessful, and ITN announced on 10 August that they were withdrawing their proposed cabinet, making a third election more likely.[14][15]Slavi Trifonov, the leader of ITN, said in a video statement that this meant new elections.[14][15] The mandate to form a cabinet went to GERB.[15][16]
GERB, the party of the previous prime minister Boyko Borisov, said earlier that it would not try to form a government.[17] The BSP said that if the scenario repeats itself, it would suggest that the incumbent caretaker cabinet becomes permanent. IBG-NI also expressed confidence that it could come up with a solution if handed the mandate to form a government.[15] Trifonov subsequently announced that he would not support any other parties proposing a cabinet.[18] Parliament announced on 2 September that Bulgaria would hold the first round of the presidential election on 14 November, with a snap election likely to take place in the same month.[6][5]
On 6 September 2021, BSP handed back the last mandate of forming a government, meaning the parliament would be dissolved and a third parliamentary election would officially take place in 2021.[19] President Rumen Radev declared on 11 September that there would be two-in-one elections on 14 November for the first time in Bulgarian history, where voters would be able to vote on the president and the parliament. This decision was taken "to save treasury costs and voters' time".[1]
Electoral system
The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected by open listproportional representation from 31 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 4 to 16 seats. The electoral threshold is 4% for parties, with seats allocated according to the largest remainder method.[20][21]
When only some of the leaders of a coalition are its official representatives, their names are in bold. All lines with a light grey background indicate support for a party or coalition that has been agreed upon outside of the official CEC electoral registration.
The campaign started after the election was officially announced for 14 November. The pandemic remained a large issue, especially with the rise of the Delta variant in the country.[25] The anti-corruption parties (ITN, DB, and IBG-NI) were all looking to hold their ground, while the established parties (GERB, DPS, and BSP) wanted to capitalise on public frustrations with the inability to form a government. The elections were widely hoped to bring an end to the political stalemate that had lasted since the April 2021 elections, after which no government could be formed. This time, there was more pressure on the anti-establishment parties to start negotiating a coalition government after the elections.[26]
After the president announced the new caretaker cabinet,[27] the economy and finance ministers who were replaced in the reshuffle, Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, announced that they would compete in the November election as part of a new coalition named We Continue the Change,[28] with the aim of becoming a new anti-corruption force that could form an effective government.
The global energy crisis was a large issue in the campaign, with natural gas prices soaring to record highs.[29] Campaigning parties offered varying solutions to address this, with some supporting more reliance on Russia for energy, while others proposed domestic nuclear power in the longer term. The campaign was also influenced by the high levels of inflation in the country, which hit record levels at 4.8% in September,[30] causing public dissatisfaction.
Another important issue was COVID-19 vaccinations. Due to a low vaccine take-up and high rises in the number of cases, the caretaker government implemented a "green pass", also known as the vaccine passport.[31] The green pass required citizens to provide proof of their vaccination status in several locations such as hospitals, schools and restaurants. The measure was met with widespread protests.[32]
On 6 October, the instructions of the Minister of Health and the Chief State Health Inspector for voting were approved, and did not differ from those for the elections on 11 July. Deputy Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Rositsa Mateva, said "there is no requirement for a green certificate for voting in the parliamentary and presidential elections on 14 November."[33]
Bulgaria's Central Election Commission accepted the registration of 23 candidates for the presidential elections, announced after the deadline for applications on 12 October. This was the largest number of candidates in a presidential election in Bulgaria since the country began direct democratic elections for its head of state; previously, the highest number was 21, which occurred in 1992 and 2016.[34]
Polling stations opened at 08:00 and closed at 20:00.[36] Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev were viewed as the winners of the legislative elections.[37] Their party (We Continue the Change) received more than 25% of the vote. GERB remained second with more than 22%. DPS finished third place with over 13%, overtaking BSP, who finished fourth with around 10%. There Is Such a People, the winner of the previous election, was seen as the election loser, dropping to fifth with less than 10% of the vote. Democratic Bulgaria also dropped significantly in support, losing over 50% of their voters from the previous election and receiving only around 6% of the vote. Lastly, Revival managed to enter the parliament with around 5% of the votes, running on a campaign of Bulgarian nationalism and opposition to vaccine mandates. Stand Up BG! We're coming! lost all their seats in the parliament, receiving only 2%, whilst VMRO did not succeed in entering parliament.[38]
We Continue the Change won the most votes in 14 districts of the country, including all three in the capital, Sofia. They also won in major cities such as Burgas, Varna and Plovdiv. GERB—SDS won in 12 districts, including Sofia-Oblast, Gabrovo, and Blagoevgrad. DPS was first in five districts in Kardzhali and Razgrad, as well as in Targovishte, Silistra, and Shumen. The results of the overseas vote differed from those in the country, as DPS received the most votes abroad with over 38% support. In second place abroad was We Continue the Change with over 22 percent. There Is Such a People, which was helped by the votes abroad, finished third, and GERB—SDS came fourth.[38]
Incumbent president Radev received around 49% of the vote and was forced into a runoff against university professor Gerdzhikov on 21 November.[39] Shortly after the second round of the presidential elections, President Radev was projected to win another term with nearly two-thirds of the vote, according to exit polls published by Alpha Research and Gallup International.[40] Voter turnout stood at a record-low 33.7% and 3.0% of people who went to the polls did not support either of the two candidates, according to Alpha Research polling agency.[41]
Following the DB coalition's poor results in the elections, Hristo Ivanov and the entire party leadership of Yes, Bulgaria! announced their resignations on 15 November.[43]Korneliya Ninova, the leader of BSP, also resigned after her party's "catastrophic" result, winning only 26 seats and falling to fourth place.[44] However, both were reaffirmed as party leaders by early February 2022.
Following the PP victory, Petkov told reporters after initial results were released that "Bulgaria is taking a new path. If we can stop [corruption] and redistribute money for the well-being of the taxpayers, then we should be able to come to an agreement with several parties." Petkov said he was willing to work with all parties that would join the fight against corruption in Bulgaria.[45] He announced he was seeking to become prime minister and said he wanted to pursue "transparent" coalition negotiations with DB and There Is Such a People.[46] DPS and GERB rejected coalition talks with PP.[47] Analysts such as Boryana Dimitrova and Parvan Simeonov predicted that PP, ITN, DB, and BSP would form a coalition.[48]
Shortly after exit polls projected that President Radev had won another term with nearly two-thirds of the vote, he commented in a statement that "an unprecedented political month of two types of elections ended, which clearly showed the will of the people to change and to break with corruption, robbery and lawlessness, to remove the mafia from power."[49] PP co-leaders Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev congratulated Radev on his re-election victory: "We are ready to work with this president," Petkov said at a briefing after the end of election day. Vassilev commented that: "Next week we are beginning work on developing a clear and precise plan on how to make Bulgaria a much better place to live in the coming 4 years".[50]
A series of talks on 18 policy areas were held between 23 November and 27 November, between the representatives of PP, BSP, ITN, and DB.[51]
The leaders of four Bulgarian parties on 10 December said they had agreed to form a coalition that would end a months-long political crisis, making it the first regular government since April. The agreement followed lengthy talks between PP, DB, ITN and BSP. Kiril Petkov announced, "we are moving towards proposing a stable government, which we hope will continue for the next four years."[52] Shortly later, President Radev announced that he had given the mandate to form a government to Petkov.[11] On 12 December, Petkov presented the composition of the incoming government, and it was approved by the National Assembly on 13 December 2021.[12]
The politics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party, also known as The Centenarian, is a centre-left, social democratic political party in Bulgaria. The BSP is a member of the Socialist International, Party of European Socialists, and Progressive Alliance. Although founded in 1990 in its modern form, it traces its political heritage back to the founding of the BRSDP in 1891. It is also Bulgaria's largest party by membership numbers.
The history of Bulgaria from 1990 to the present is the period of Bulgarian history that begins after the fall of Communism and the transition to a market economy.
GERB, is a conservative, populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria between 2009–2013 and 2016–2021.
Maya Bozhidarova Manolova is a Bulgarian politician and the leader of the political movement Stand Up.BG, part of the Stand Up! Mafia, get out! coalition. She was formerly the vice-chairperson as well as a deputy in the Bulgarian National Assembly, as well National Ombudsman of Bulgaria.
Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 6 November 2016, alongside a referendum on changes to the electoral system and political party funding. The second round was held on 13 November 2016, resulting in the victory of Rumen Radev.
Rumen Georgiev Radev is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who has been the president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 26 March 2017. They had originally been scheduled for 2018 at the end of the four-year term of the National Assembly. However, following the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the failure of Bulgarian parties to form a government, early elections were called. Borisov resigned following the defeat of Tsetska Tsacheva, the candidate of his GERB party, in the November 2016 presidential elections. The official election campaign began on 24 February.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 4 April 2021 at the end of the term of National Assembly members elected in 2017. Parties in the governing coalition led by Boyko Borisov lost seats and no party leader was able to form a coalition government within the time limit. This triggered the July 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election.
There Is Such a People is a populist political party in Bulgaria established by Bulgarian singer, TV host and politician Slavi Trifonov. Self-described as a "political product", the party is named after one of Trifonov's own musical albums.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 11 July 2021 after no party was able or willing to form a government following the April 2021 elections. The populist party There Is Such a People (ITN), led by musician and television host Slavi Trifonov, narrowly won the most seats over a coalition of the conservative GERB and Union of Democratic Forces parties. Four other parties won seats in the 240-member Parliament as well.
Early parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 2 October 2022 to elect members of the 48th National Assembly. The snap election was called after the fall of the Petkov Government, a four-party coalition, in June 2022. This was the fourth parliamentary election since 2021, an unprecedented situation in Bulgarian history, the previous elections being the April, July, and November 2021 elections.
We Continue the Change, sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and formerly an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, two former caretaker ministers. It was founded ahead of the November 2021 election. The party was officially registered on 15 April.
The Middle European Class, sometimes translated as Average European Class, is a political party in Bulgaria established by nightclub owner Georgi Manev. It is currently led by Konstantin Bachiiski and is part of the electoral coalition We Continue the Change.
Kiril Petkov Petkov is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from December 2021 to August 2022. He is the co-leader of We Continue the Change, a political party he co-founded with Asen Vasilev.
The Petkov Government, known as the Four-party coalition cabinet, was the ninety-ninth cabinet of Bulgaria. Chaired by prime minister Kiril Petkov, it was approved by the National Assembly on 13 December 2021 after the government formation as a result of the November 2021 parliamentary election. It was a so-called Vivaldi coalition, named after composer Antonio Vivaldi due to his work The Four Seasons which corresponds to the different political views present in this coalition: liberals, socialists (BSP), greens and conservatives. The government became a Minority government on 8 June 2022, when ITN pulled out of the government, and its mandate ended in late June 2022. It was the first government in Bulgarian history to lose a vote of confidence. On 1 July, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev asked Asen Vasilev to form a new government, which Vasilev failed to do and new elections were scheduled to take place.
Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 2 April 2023 to elect members of the National Assembly. These were initially scheduled to be held before November 2026; however, as no government was approved by the 48th Parliament, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev announced in January 2023 that he would call a snap election.
The 2021–2023 Bulgarian political crisis was a period of instability in Bulgaria, which has seen the country face five elections over two years: April 2021, July 2021, November 2021, October 2022 and April 2023.
PP–DB is an electoral coalition between We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria in Bulgaria. The two groups merged prior to the 2023 election.
The Forty-Seventh National Assembly was a convocation of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, formed according to the results of the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, held on 14 November 2021.
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17.64pp) first round
