Eight parties passed the electoral threshold to win representation in the National Assembly, while Velichie came just 21 votes short to win representation. GERB–SDS had the best results by winning 25.5% of the vote, but were required to form an alliance with at least two other elected parties in order to achieve a voting majority in the National Assembly.[3] The new elected 51st Parliament replaced the 50th Parliament when all elected members were sworn in on 11 November.[4] After 11 voting rounds, Natalia Kiselova (BSP–OL) was elected as speaker of the National Assembly on 6 December.[5] The President is expected to grant the first negotiation mandate to the largest party GERB-SDS at the first working day in 2025, which is the final part of the process to explore if a government can be formed led by GERB-SDS.[6]
Following several snap elections, the National Assembly had failed to put together a long-lasting government since 'anti-corruption' parties made a breakthrough in the April 2021 election.[8][9] The 2023 election saw little change from 2022, with Boyko Borisov's centre-right GERB–SDS narrowly coming in first place, above the centrist PP–DB alliance. The far-right Revival (VAZ) and the populist There is Such a People (ITN) made gains, with the latter re-entering the Assembly after it failed to reach the electoral threshold in 2022.[10][11]
On 22 May 2023 the PP- and GERB-led alliances agreed to form a government with a rotational premiership. Nikolai Denkov, PP's candidate, would be the Prime Minister for the first nine months of the government and Mariya Gabriel, the GERB candidate, would serve as deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister. After nine months, the two would switch positions.[12] After nine months, the switch failed to materialise with negotiations breaking down,[13][14][15][16] and no government could be formed. Dimitar Glachev was appointed as caretaker prime minister,[17] and elections were scheduled for 9 June 2024.[18][19]
As a consequence, PresidentRumen Radev instead appointed the Vice President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, as the next caretaker prime minister on 9 August.[26] Grancharova-Kozhareva was granted ten days to form a proposal for the next caretaker government to be appointed on 20 August, and the upcoming next parliamentary elections were scheduled for 20 October 2024.[27] Grancharova-Kozhareva made the controversial decision to propose that the incumbent minister of the interior, Kalin Stoyanov, should remain in his role, but this was opposed by President Radev. Radev rejected the government proposal, delaying the upcoming election.[28]
Following the rejection of Grancharova-Kozhareva, Radev re-appointed Dimitar Glavchev as the caretaker prime minister,[29] and his government proposal was sworn in on 27 August, and the elections were set for the 27 October.[30][31]
Changes in the Assembly's composition prior to the election
One MP was expelled from the BSP by its national council on 18 June, before being sworn in.[32]
The Velichie parliamentary group comprised 13 MPs after the election. On 5 July, six MPs broke away from the group, dissolving it.[33]
The 240 members of the National Assembly were elected by open list, proportional representation from 31 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from four to nineteen seats. The electoral threshold was 4% for all parties or electoral coalitions, with seats allocated according to the largest remainder method using a Hare quota.[36][37]
Parties
Contesting parties and coalitions
Below is the official list of parties and coalitions that registered lists for the Bulgarian Parliamentary elections.[38][39] Boxes shaded in grey are not officially parties in the coalitions according to the electoral commission, but they are key groups in each alliance.
It was reported that despite suggesting they could run, Volt, Bulgarian National Union and VMRO did not submit their lists in time to partake in the elections.[40]NDPS also wished to partake, but its registration was deleted.[41]
On 27 August, the central leadership organisation of the DPS removed Delyan Peevski as chairman of the party, and seven MPs close to Peevski were expelled from the party. This move has been linked to Ahmed Dogan, MP and honorary chairman of the party.[42][43][44] Peevski called the move unconstitutional,[13] and gained control of the official party website.[45] This follows the rift in the party following the election, where the parliamentary group split.[34] The controversy surrounding Peevski has led to two groups emerging,[46]DPS – A New Beginning[47] and Democracy, Rights and Freedoms,[48] with both groups registering as electoral coalitions with the acronym DPS in order to get around the rules of the electoral commission.[11][49] After DPS–Peevski was recognized to be the legitimate DPS by the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria, DPS–Dogan changed their name to "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms" (АПС instead of ДПС) and registered without listing DPS as a member of the alliance.[50] The DPS mayors split 50:50 between both groups.[51]
Campaign
Ten days prior to the election, it was reported that 1.2 million BGN (US$680k) was spent on advertising in the media, with ITN spending the most, DPS–Peevski second most, and BPS–OL third.[52]
Campaign slogans and websites
The following list present the official campaign slogans and websites of parties that contested the election:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 This poll reported the percentage respondents do not support any party, however the rest of the data was recalculated to exclude these percentages.
↑ In official election results, None of the above votes don’t count as a proportion of the total vote. In the June 2024 election, they reached a total number of 63,913 or approximately 2.9%, if measured proportionally.
Conduct
Allegations of vote buying are common occurrences in the Bulgarian electoral cycle,[54] with allegations of vote buying happening more often in rural areas, which have more poverty and people who are less educated.[55] During the election campaign, a deputy, Ivaylo Mirchev, from PP–DB, claimed that there was widespread vote buying being conducted by DPS–Peevski, claiming people were being paid up to 500 BGN (US$286) per vote.[56] One of the leaders of the list for DPS–Peevski appeared to admit to vote buying in a social media poll.[57]
The interior minister, Atanas Ilkov, told a parliamentary hearing that he had received two alerts of vote buying by 25 September.[58] A national police operation that was set up to target the practice began operating two days later.[59] On 18 October, Ilkov said his ministry had received 259 allegations of vote buying.[60]
Deutsche Welle received reports, especially in Kardzhali Province, that DPS–Peevski was pressuring people to vote for the party in fear of losing their jobs, with already 60 jobs lost in the municipal administration. They also reported that Peevski personally was paying for various small-scale public repairs.[61]
Dzheyhan Ibryamov case
On 2 October, the lead candidate of DPS–Dogan in Shumen, Dzheyhan Ibryamov, was arrested by the Prosecutors Office on the charge of attempting to buy vote and influence peddling.[62] Following a request by the Prosecutors Office, the CEC and Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Raya Nazaryan, agreed to lift Ibryamov's immunity as a candidate in the elections.[63] Despite the criminal case against him and his arrest, Ibryamov was still authorised to participate in the elections.[64]
The arrest and criminal prosecution of Ibryamov provoked negative reactions from key DPS–Dogan figures, with the coalition de facto leader, Dzhevdet Chakarov, calling for the cancellation of the upcoming elections.[65]
Post-result reports
In identified polling stations with a risk of high levels of controlled or bought votes, GERB and DPS–Peevski were the leading parties.[66]
According to the Institute for the Development of the Public Environment, there were 827 polling stations with this risk, and bTV reported some voters in Blagoevgrad did not deny that there was vote buying occurring.[67] The coordinator of the 'You Count' organisation, which asks voters to report election misconduct, claimed that there were entire municipalities at risk of high levels of bought and controlled votes. He claimed the results did not reflect the will of the Bulgarian citizens because the results were so skewed.[68]
An investigation was released on the state broadcaster, BNT, claimed to show that discrepancies of up to 100 votes in one electoral district, as well as other malpractices elsewhere.[69]
The Second Glavchev caretaker government, in its official report, stated that they believe that the elections had taken place in a free and fair environment, and cited positive comments made by international electoral observers.[70] In a briefing shortly after the elections, Caretaker Minister of the Interior Atanas Ilkov claimed that no serious differences in the level of vote-buying had been noted by the Ministry and that there was no evidence of the use of state institutions in order to influence the elections outcome.[71]
Results
Exit polls showed a GERB victory with 26.4% of the vote, with the PP getting 14.9%, and Revival 12.9%.[72]
The following table outlines the partial results by party. The national electoral threshold at 4% is calculated using the total specified votes cast for parties and independent candidates, and not the total of all valid votes which also include "None of the above" votes. Velichie received 3.9992% of the specified vote, and therefor lost its parliamentary representation by missing just 21 votes to reach the electoral threshold.
As of 22:03 Eastern European Time (UTC+02:00) on 27 October 2024, exit polls showed GERB–SDS was projected to win 65 to 76 seats, with PP–DB securing 37 to 42 seats and Revival claiming 35 to 36 seats. Parallel vote tabulation showed slightly different projections: 63 to 69 for GERB–SDS, 35 to 38 for PP–DB and 35 to 36 for Revival.[73]
The election of a speaker for the 51st National Assembly is required before it can begin its work, which include conducting upcoming votes on potential government formation proposals. The Bulgarian President will only start the process of handing out the exploring government forming mandates, once a speaker of the Parliament has been elected.[74]
The election of the speaker of the National Assembly was previously used by GERB as a key part of coalition negotiations. GERB again declared that as the largest party, they should elect the speaker and his party would not partake in coalition talks if this was not to be the case.[75] PP–DB had previously stated they would not vote to elect a GERB speaker.[76]
Voting round 1-3
On 11 November, the 51st assembly met for the first time, accompanied by several protests.[77][78] The candidates were Raya Nazaryan (GERB, speaker of the 50th national assembly), Andrey Tsekov (PP–DB, former minister), Petar Petrov (Vaz), Natalia Kiselova (BSP–OL) and Nicoleta Kuzmanova (ITN).[79] In the first round of voting, Nazaryan and Tsekov received the most support, with all parties backing their own candidates, DPS–Peevski abstaining, and APS (DPS–Dogan) and MECh splitting between Kiselova and Kuzmanova.[80] In the run-off, no candidate received enough votes to be elected. The results of the run-off votes were as follows:[77]
A second round elections to elect the speaker was scheduled for 13 November.[81] The same candidates were up for election.[82] Nazaryan and Tsekov again went to a run-off, and they both failed to be elected with only a few MPs changing their votes.[83]
A third round was scheduled for 15 November,[84] with the same candidates again, except for ITN nominating Silvi Kirilov instead as a "temporary speaker" (Kirilov had been opening the parliament as the oldest MP).[85] The vote failed[86] after Kirilov only managed to get the support of ITN and APS (DPS–Dogan), so Nazaryan and Tsekov went on to the run-off. In the run-off, Nazaryan only received the support of GERB–SDS; Tsekov received 56 votes, as MECh did not support any candidate in this round.[87]
Kirilov won all run-off voting without being elected (round 4-9)
The fourth round on 20 November saw PP–DB withdraw their nomination of Tsekov in favour of supporting Kirilov. All other candidates were the same.[88] The first part of the fourth round of voting resulted in: 69 votes for Nazaryan (GERB), 67 votes for Kirilov (ITN), 50 votes for Kiselova (BSP) and 47 votes for Petrov (Revival). In the subsequent run-off vote, neither of the candidates were elected, as Nazaryan was only supported by her own party (69 MPs), and Kirilov came 19 votes short of being elected after receiving support by 101 out of 239 present MPs.[89]
The fifth round of voting was scheduled for 22 November,[90] with Nazaryan and Kirilov failing once more to be elected after entering the runoff, with Kirilov again getting 101 votes in favour.[91][92][93]
The run-off at the sixth round of voting on 27 November ended with 100 votes for Kirilov (ITN) and 69 votes for Nazaryan (GERB), meaning that both candidates failed to get enough votes to be elected.[94] Prior to the vote, BSP had attempted in vain to organise a majority around all parties except GERB and DPS–Peevski,[95] and expressed readiness to withdraw their own speaker candidate Kiselova and start voting in support of a new consensus candidate - if a working majority could be found among the six-party coalition PPDB-Revival-BSP-APS-ITN-MECh.[96]
After the sixth round of voting, the acting chairman of BSP (Atanas Zafirov) stated his party would still neither support Kirilov (ITN) nor Petar Petrov (Revival) as an elected speaker, and repeated his previous call for all political parties from the six-party coalition PPDB-Revival-BSP-APS-ITN-MECh instead now to withdraw their previous candidates, and to enter into a new round of negotiations between them where each party could propose a new cross-party consensus candidate.[97] The leader of ITN (Slavi Trifonov), stated his party would once again nominate the oldest member of parliament Kirilov (ITN) as their candidate for "temporary speaker" at the upcoming seventh round of voting, and emphasized that if a regular majority government later is formed as a result of the upcoming three negotiation mandates yet to be explored, then Kirilov had pledged to resign again as speaker in order to let the new formed government select their own permanent speaker.[98]
A seventh round of voting took place on 28 November. The same four candidates as in previous rounds were initially nominated and received similar levels of support as in prior rounds: Nazaryan supported by 69 MPs, Kirilov supported by 66 MPs, Kiselova supported by 50 MPs, and Petrov supported by 46 MPs.[99] Prior to the run-off vote between Kirilov and Nazaryan, a spokesperson from Yes, Bulgaria! (Bozhidar Bozhanov) stated that DB had agreed to support Kirilov's election to the speakership due to the lack of alternative options and the need for parliament to begin its function.[100] During the run-off vote, however, Kirilov ended up being just 3 votes short of a majority, leading to the adjournament of the session.[101]
Kirilov would have reached the required majority for election as speaker, if all MPs from the PP-DB parliamentary group had voted in favour to elect him at the seventh voting round, but 3 out of 37 did not. Following the vote, the PP Executive Council expelled Daniel Lorer from the PP party, and called on both Daniel Lorer and Yavor Bozhankov to voluntarily resign from the broader PP-DB parlimantary group and as members of parliament, after the two did not vote in favour of electing Silvi Kirilov as a new "temporary speaker" of the National Assembly.[102]DB from the second part of the PP-DB coalition (Yes, Bulgaria! and DSB) however announced that they would not support the expulsion of Lorer and Bozhankov from the PP-DB parliamentary group.[102] The primary reason for Lorer and Bozhankov not to vote in support of Kirilov, was their refusal to vote in support of a speaker whos majority for election depended on a simultaneous support delivered by the far-right party Revival (Vazrazhdane).[103][104] The third MP from PP-DB who had not voted in favour of Kirilov, Nadezhda Yordanova, clarified she had only cast her vote "against" Kirilov by mistake; and after the official result of the seventh round of voting had been declared she had sent a letter to request her vote should be counted as "for" instead of "against".[102]
The first part of the eighth round of voting on 29 November saw GERB withdrawing their nomination of Nazaryan in favour of supporting Kiselova (BSP).[105] All other candidates were the same as in the previous rounds of voting, and the first part of the vote resulted in: 87 votes for Kiselova (BSP), 65 votes for Kirilov (ITN) and 45 votes for Petrov (Revival).[106] In the subsequent run-off vote, neither of the candidates received the required majority support for election as speaker (minimum 119 votes of the 237 present MPs).[107]
After the eighth round of voting, PP–DB co-leader Kiril Petkov stated that in order for his party to vote in favour of a speaker candidate from another party, then the party of the speaker candidate was required first to sign their proposed joint-declaration on a cordon sanitaire around DPS–Peevski - including a commitment to support anti-corruption legislation and judicial reform, which previously also had been presented as a pre-condition for the willingness of PP–DB to partake in any government formation negotiations with any of the other parties. Hence PP–DB could not vote in favour of the BSP speaker candidate at the eight round of voting.[108][109]
A ninth round of voting took place on 4 December.[107] Ahead of the vote, GERB confirmed they would still not sign PP-DB's "cordon sanitaire around DPS–Peevski" declaration.[110] While ITN announced they would again propose Silvi Kirilov as "temporary speaker", and reminded PP-DB they had signed their cordon sanitaire declaration several weeks ago.[111] PP-DB declared all three parties from their alliance in an attempt to break the deadlock now would nominate and support a new speaker candidate, Atanas Atanasov, from their own parliamentary group; and emphasized they would still under no circumstance accept GERB's Boyko Borisov as Prime Minister - nor support a speaker candidate from GERB.[112][113] The reply from GERB was that they would not support Atanasov for speaker, because of PP-DB's refusal to accept Borisov as Prime Minister.[114] ITN stated they would not support Atanasov due to "being nominated by GERB", but instead still support their own candidate Kirilov.[115] BSP stated they would still only support their own candidate, Natalia Kiselova, and recommended all other parties - except DPS - to reunite around a support to elect Kiselova.[116] DPS would not nominate a candidate themselves, and would not vote in favour of any candidate nominated by another party.[117]
The first part of the ninth round of voting resulted in: 88 votes for Kiselova (BSP), 82 votes for Kirilov (ITN), 56 votes for Atanasov (PP-DB) and 45 votes for Petrov (Revival). In the subsequent run-off vote among 238 present MPs, neither of the candidates received the required majority support for election as speaker (120 votes), as Kiselova was supported by 88 MPs and Kirilov was supported by 100 MPs.[118][119]
A tenth round of voting took place on 5 December.[119] Ahead of the tenth vote, BSP contemplated to sign the long discussed PP-DB declaration on the cordon sanitaire around DPS–NN (Peevski).[120] If BSP had signed the declaration, then both ITN and BSP would have passed the stated requirement for earning potentiel voting support from PP-DB in any upcoming run-off vote.[121][122] BSP however had still not signed the PP-DB declaration ahead or during the tenth voting round, because GERB leader Borisov had warned BSP that GERB would withdraw their support for Kiselova if BSP signed the PP-DB declaration against DPS–NN (Peevski).[120]
The first part of the tenth round of voting resulted in: 88 votes for Kiselova (BSP), 82 votes for Kirilov (ITN), 61 votes for Petrov (Revival), and 56 votes for Atanasov (PP-DB).[123] In the subsequent run-off vote among 238 present MPs, neither of the candidates received the required majority support for election as speaker (120 votes), as Kirilov was supported by 99 MPs and Kiselova was supported by 118 MPs.[124][125]
After the tenth round of voting, BSP was by most of their opposing parties criticized apparently to have forged a new secret backroom agreement or alliance with DPS–NN (Peevski), that unexpectedly had voted in favour of Kiselova in the run-off vote, instead of BSP having opted to sign the PP-DP declaration against DPS–NN (Peevski) ahead of the vote.[126][127][128][129] BSP clarified they did not have any prior meeting or agreement with DPS–NN (Peevski), that the DPS-NN support thrown to Kiselova in the run-off vote had been granted unexpected and without conditions, and that BSP as a proof of their opposition against DPS–NN (Peevski) actually now had signed the PP-DP declaration against DPS–NN (Peevski). According to BSP, they had been warned by GERB that in case they signed the PP-DP declaration ahead of the run-off vote, then GERB would as a precondition for continuing their support of Kiselova demand some extra time (meaning a delay of the run-off vote), in order to also come up with additional conditions to be accepted by BSP ahead of the vote.[130][120] PP-DB confirmed their entire group abstained from voting for Kiselova at the tenth run-off vote, but promised to vote in support of her election as soon as BSP had signed the PP-DB declaration.[131] The GERB leader, Borisov, stated that "the situation that arose today will make me, of course, after a conversation with my colleagues, rethink my tactics tomorrow", and refrained to say in advance how GERB would vote at the upcoming eleventh round of voting.[132]
An eleventh round of voting took place on 6 December. The first part of the eleventh round of voting resulted in: 105 votes for Kiselova (BSP), 82 votes for Kirilov (ITN), 63 votes for Petrov (Revival), and 56 votes for Atanasov (PP-DB).[133] In the subsequent run-off vote among 233 present MPs, Kirilov was supported by 98 MPs and not elected, while Kiselova was elected as speaker by 140 MPs supporting her.[134][5]
Chairperson of the National Assembly run-off vote (11th round, 6 Dec)[134] Silvi Kirilov (ITN)
Following the results, the parliament remained fragmented, with no clear pre-existing majority being evident.[136] On 29 October, a Bulgarian correspondent from the news network Deutsche Welle suggested the following coalition options were the most likely possibilities to occur, based on the election results and considering the positions stated by the parties during the election campaign:[137]
This coalition could exclude one of the latter three parties and still retain a majority.
GERB, BSP, APS, ITN
69+20+19+18
Majority (126/240)
GERB
69
Minority (69/240)
A GERB minority government, would require that minimum 62 GERB MPs vote in favour of this among 121 present MPs (or 69 GERB MPs among 121-137 present MPs), in order to satisfy the requirement to achieve a voting majority among the present MPs convened within the minimum quorum of the National Assembly, with the remaining elected MPs forming a silent majority of absentees or abstentions.
A new caretaker government shall be formed by the Bulgarian President, if all three government formation attempts mandated by the constitution fails. The procedure for appointing a caretaker government was recently changed by amendments to the Constitution adopted by the 49th National Assembly, but those changes were challenged for lack of constitutionality by President Radev for a second time on 20 November 2024.[138]
Party positions ahead of the first negotiation mandate
Borisov, GERB's leader, claimed victory following the elections and declared that he would be willing to cooperate with all parties except for Revival, if they were willing to support GERB's program.[139] Speaking at GERB's National Forum meant to discuss the election results, Borisov predicted that new elections were the most likely outcome of the next National Assembly.[140]
PP–DB, which finished second, called for a cordon sanitaire around DPS–Peevski, and urged all parties to sign an agreement to this effect, which would also include a commitment to support anti-corruption legislation and judicial reform. PP co-leader Kiril Petkov stated that signing this joint-declaration was a pre-condition for their negotiation with any of the other parties.[141] The call to exclude Peevski from future governing arrangements was supported by DPS–Dogan,[142] which pushed for a Euro-Atlanticist majority without DPS–Peevski.[143] Specifically, Dogan himself said his DPS wing could support a GERB–PP–DB government.[144] ITN also supported the statement on the condition that PP–DB would agree to fix the electoral rolls,[145] which they did.[146]MECh also supported the cordon sanitaire.[147] GERB rejected the concept of signing agreements prior to negotiations.[148] Peevski, for his part, argued that the attempts to exclude his party were undemocratic and implied that they were an attempt to sideline the interests of Bulgarian ethnic minority voters.[149]
The BSP, in a statement after the election, did not explicitly rule out participation in a government with any of the other parliamentary represented parties, however made clear that any decision about government participation would have to be taken by all parts of the party and broader coalition.[150]
The leader of the newest parliamentary party, MECh, Radostin Vasilev initially proposed a coalition excluding GERB and both wings of the DPS, where MECh would take the interior ministry.[151]
Prior to the first sitting of the 51st National Assembly, Borisov called for a formation of a government with the support of GERB, PP–DB, BSP, ITN, with himself as Prime Minister.[152] This idea was rejected by PP–DB, who refused to negotiate with GERB prior to the signing of the declaration against Delyan Peevski and corruption in Bulgaria.[153] BSP similarly implied that they would not vote for a GERB-led government or Boyko Borisov as Prime Minister.[154]
On 12 November, PP-DB initiated meetings with parties who had expressed a willingness to sign the declaration for the creation of a cordon sanitaire around Delyan Peevski.[155] During the meetings, ITN, MECh and APS affirmed their willingness to support the declarations and work with PP-DB on passing anti-corruption legislation.[156]
Borisov, announcing the decision of GERB's executive council prior to the beginning of GERB's own negotiations with BSP and ITN, declared he would not govern with DPS–Peevski, Vaz, DPS–Dogan and MECh, sending this signed declaration to PP-DB.[157] While PP-DB commended GERB for the decision, they still insisted that any future negotiation required GERB's signing of PP-DB's declaration and objected to the idea that negotiations about the legislative program of the parliament were contingent upon the election of a speaker.[158]
On 13 November, GERB met with BSP and ITN in closed negotiations. Both meetings were described as focusing mainly on policy and not on the composition of a future government, with a general consensus being reached about the poor economic state of the country.[159] BSP also met with representatives of PP-DB, during this meeting BSP did not explicitly agree to sign the PP-DB declaration, but did highlight certain policy proposals that they could work on together with PP-DB.[160]
On the evening of 14 November, Revival announced that they would also initiate their own negotiations, with the aim of forming a government excluding GERB and the two wings of DPS.[161] PP-DB for announced that they would not attend any negotiations or govern with Revival.[162][163]
On 22 November, an offer was made by Boyko Borisov for a leaders' meeting with PP-DB. PP-DB accepted GERB's idea for a public leaders meeting, asking for the meeting to focus on future government composition as well as the removal of Peevski's influence within the state.[164] GERB, for their part, responded by emphasising the fact that all initial negotiations must be focused on government formation, rather than other issues.[165] On 25 November, GERB held a press briefing in which they announced that they had agreed to hold a leaders meeting with PP-DB, however it would not be attended by Borisov personally but instead by a negotiating team composed of Daniel Mitov, Tomislav Donchev and Rosen Zhelyazkov. Borisov further offered support for the potential candidacy of Atanas Atanasov for Speaker of the National Assembly, while making clear that GERB wished to select any future Prime Minister, with their most likely candidate being Borisov himself.[166] PP-DB however immediately declared they under no circumstances were ready to support Borisov as a future Prime Minister.[167] As a consequence of the PP-DB response, Borisov then the next day withdrew his request to be a candidate for Prime Minister, and declared GERB would now return the first negotiation mandate as unfulfilled once they receive it from President Radev.[168]
First negotiation mandate
The official start of the process for exploring the first negotiation mandate, awaits a prior election of a speaker for the National Assembly.[74] GERB had however declared even before being granted the first negotiation mandate, that the framework requirement for them to start substantial negotiations under the first negotiation mandate, would be a stated willingness among the invited parties to explore the potential formation of a four-party government between GERB, PP-DB, BSP and ITN, being led by Boyko Borisov as Prime Minister.[152][169] On 25 November, PP-DB rejected this framework proposal in advance, because they could not accept the demand for Borisov to be Prime Minister;[167] and GERB declared they would now as a consequence return the first negotiation mandate as unfulfilled once they receive it from President Radev.[168]
After election of the speaker on 6 December, the President invited all elected parliamentary groups – except DPS-NN – over to consultation meetings between 10-12 December, to note their initial positions related to a possible government formation under a first negotiation mandate granted to the largest elected party (GERB).[170] This consultation round aims to facilitate potential achievement of consensus between the parliamentary groups to form a future government through the mediation of the President, and is required by the constitution first to occur before the President can officially grant the first negotiation mandate.[171] The President explained he had not invited DPS-NN over to consultations: "because talks with a parliamentary group that has categorically stated in advance that it will not participate in this process of forming a government and has excluded itself from it, and which categorically insists on immediate new elections; talks with such a parliamentary group are by definition pointless".[172]
During the consultations, GERB leader, Boyko Borisov reiterated that GERB would only negotiate with PP-DB, BSP and ITN; and that the most logical development would be a premise that such negotiations take place within a framework of accepting the nomination of himself as Prime Minister.[173][174] PP co-leader, Kiril Petkov, made clear that PP would not engage in any negotiations with GERB until the signing of the "PP-DB declaration" in support of judicial reform and the political isolation of DPS-NN.[175] Co-chair of the PP-DB parliamentary group and member of Yes, Bulgaria!, Nadezhda Yordanova, on the other hand indicated that the two Democratic Bulgaria parties (comprising the second half of PP-DB) were inclined to negotiate with GERB without any preconditions in order to fulfil the first mandate, although their support of any GERB led government would ultimately be conditional on GERB accepting to incorporate all elements of the "PP-DB declaration" into a government formation agreement.[176]
Vazrazhdane (Revival) stated they would not support or be part of any government formed under the first or second negotiation mandate, and would only work to attempt forming a minority government around their own political programme if they were granted the third mandate.[177] BSP stated that they were ready to negotiate with all parties except DPS-NN, but would only support formation of a cabinet under the first mandate, if it was a transitional cabinet or an expert cabinet, and emphasized the future prime minister of such cabinet should not be closely tied to any of the political parties.[177] APS supported the PP-DB cordon sanitaire declaration around DPS-NN, and were ready to negotiatate for a potential government formation with all parties except DPS-NN and Revival.[178] ITN stated they would be ready to negotiate with all parties except DPS-NN,[179] but would not support Boyko Borisov as Prime Minister.[180] MECH would not support or negotiate with GERB and DPS-NN.[181]
After the initial consultations, GERB opted to invite ITN, BSP and DB from PP-DB over to bilateral negotiation meetings.[182][183] The President expects to hand over the first negotiation mandate to GERB at the first working day in 2025, which mean the GERB-led initial negotiations should be concluded before New Year's Eve.[6]
On the 16th of December, the first round of talks between GERB's negotiation team and representatives of DB (who were represented at the meeting by MPs Bozhidar Bozhanov, Nadezhda Yordanova, Ivaylo Mirchev from Yes, Bulgaria! as well as Kristina Petkov and Radan Kanev from DSB) took place.[184] After the meeting a joint-declaration was shared by the two parties, wherein they both shared that the discussion centered around forming a "stable, pro-European majority", with DB specifically emphasising the incorporation of elements of their declaration within the future government's program.[184] Secondary rounds of negotiations, focusing more closely on legislation concerning the corruption struggle, economic stability and judicial reform, were scheduled for the following days.[184]
Contestation of the results and election conduct
Velichie, which according to the results remained just below the 4% threshold with exactly 3.9992% of the popular vote,[3] alleged that the elections had been rigged against them and promised to contest the election results.[185] They specifically accused GERB and DPS–Peevski of electoral fraud.[186] The party staged protests in Sofia for multiple days in a row calling for the annulment of the results.[187] There were reports that enough votes to put Velichie into the Assembly were misallocated to other parties in the vote count.[188]
The conduct of the election had allegations of mass vote buying and voter manipulation, leading civil society organisations to call for the annulment of the results.[189] President Rumen Radev noted the large amount of evidence supporting allegations of mass vote buying and called on the Ministry of Interior to reveal which parties were most complicit in the practice.[190] ITN leader Slavi Trifonov endorsed Radev's calls and additionally called for the resignation of the Second Glavchev caretaker government due to their mishandling of the elections.[191] The BSP similarly called on the Prosecutors Office to respond to the allegations of mass vote buying and irregularities.[192] PP–DB said they wanted a comprehensive check of the results, pointing to irregularities like high turnout, high numbers of invalid ballots and discrepancies.[193] Revival have also called for a general recount of the results of the elections,[194] and they claimed to have calculated that between 400,000 and 500,000 votes were bought by all parties except them.[195]
On 7 November, vice-president Iliana Iotova called the new parliament illegitimate.[196] This was criticised by Boyko Borisov, who called on Iotova to apologise or otherwise not go ahead with the first sitting of the parliament if she believed it to be illegitimate.[140] Iotova refused to apologise and reiterated claims serious irregularities in the conduct of the elections.[197]
The following parties have called for a full or partial annulment of the election: the BSP,[198] DPS–Dogan,[142] GERB,[199] ITN,[200] MECh,[201] and Velichie.[185] Multiple parties also announced they would collect signatures to send a partial annulment case to the Constitutional Court, which requires the support of 48 MPs.[200][198] ITN's case was sent with the signatures of 67 deputies of the last parliament, coming from their party, PP–DB, DPS–Dogan, BSP and Velichie.[202] BSP and Vaz also submitted a case with 55 signatures, and argued the president should appoint the cabinet.[203]
On 26 November, the Constitutional Court admitted all five election result complaint cases challenging the legality of the parliamentary election for a combined review. An appointed panel of 18 experts was granted a deadline on 10 January 2025 to investigate all complaints and conduct an independent audit of the election results, including a recount of all votes cast at 1777 polling stations.[7]
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