2022 Bulgarian parliamentary election

2022 Bulgarian parliamentary election

← November 2021 2 October 2022 2023 →
All 240 seats in the National Assembly 121 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	37.98% ( 0.45pp)
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– GERB–SDS Boyko Borisov 24.48 67 +8 PP K. Petkov & A. Vasilev 19.52 53 −14 DPS Mustafa Karadayi 13.29 36 +2 Revival Kostadin Kostadinov 9.83 27 +14 BSPzB Korneliya Ninova 8.98 25 −1 DB Hristo Ivanov 7.19 20 +4 BV Stefan Yanev 4.47 12 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Distribution of seats by electoral district and largest party by district Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Galab Donev (caretaker) Independent Galab Donev (caretaker) Independent

Politics of Bulgaria
Constitution 1879 1947 1971 1991
Presidency President (list) Rumen Radev Vice President Iliana Iotova
Executive Legislative Government Prime Minister (list) Nikolay Denkov National Assembly Speaker: Rosen Zhelyazkov
Law Judiciary Nationality law Human rights Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Administrative Court Supreme Court of Cassation Office of the General Prosecutor
Major political parties PP GERB DPS Bulgarian Socialist Party Democratic Bulgaria Revival Bulgarian Rise
Recent elections Presidential: 2011 2016 2021 Parliamentary: 2023 2024 (Jun) 2024 (Oct) European: 2014 2019 2024
Administrative divisions Provinces (oblasti) Municipalities (obshtini)
Foreign relations 2007 EU enlargement Kristalina Georgieva Politics of the European Union
Bulgaria portal Other countries
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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.

As in the previous snap elections, no party secured a majority. The GERB–SDS alliance emerged as the largest bloc with 67 seats and was assigned the task of forming a government by President Rumen Radev, but their efforts failed. Radev then granted the We Continue the Change party and later the BSP for Bulgaria coalition a mandate to form a government, but both were unsuccessful. As a result, Radev scheduled another parliamentary election, the fifth in two years, to take place on 2 April 2023.

Turnout was at 39%, the lowest since 1990.^[1]

The 2021 Bulgarian general election in November saw We Continue the Change (PP) achieve a surprise victory,^[2] receiving 25% of the vote. Led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, the PP formed a coalition government with BSP for Bulgaria (BSPzB), There Is Such a People (ITN) and Democratic Bulgaria (DB). This broke the deadlock that had arisen as a result of the previous two parliamentary elections, after which no party was able to form a government.^[3]

On 8 June 2022, ITN withdrew from the government, citing disagreements over the state budget, fiscal policy and the lifting of Bulgaria's veto on opening EU accession talks with North Macedonia. On 22 June, the government was defeated in a no confidence vote tabled by GERB and supported by DPS, ITN and Revival.

The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected by open list proportional 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.^[4][5]

The table below lists the political party groups represented in the 47th National Assembly.

Graphical representation of recalculated data

Local regression of polls conducted

The opinion poll results below were recalculated from the original data and exclude polls that chose "I will not vote" or "I am uncertain" options.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	GERB–SDS	634,627	24.48	67	+8
	We Continue the Change	506,099	19.52	53	–14
	Movement for Rights and Freedoms	344,512	13.29	36	+2
	Revival	254,952	9.83	27	+14
	BSP for Bulgaria	232,958	8.98	25	–1
	Democratic Bulgaria	186,528	7.19	20	+4
	Bulgarian Rise	115,872	4.47	12	+12
	There Is Such a People	96,071	3.71	0	–25
	Stand Up.BG	25,207	0.97	0	0
	VMRO – Bulgarian National Movement	20,177	0.78	0	0
	Movement of Independent Candidates	10,324	0.40	0	New
	A Just Bulgaria (OSD– PDS–KOY)	9,124	0.35	0	New
	Attack	7,593	0.29	0	0
	Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland	6,533	0.25	0	0
	People's Voice	6,197	0.24	0	0
	Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy	5,874	0.23	0	0
	Bulgarian Euro-Left	5,343	0.21	0	0
	Coalition for You Bulgaria	5,097	0.20	0	New
	Conservative Union of the Right	5,028	0.19	0	0
	Morality, Initiative and Patriotism	4,536	0.17	0	0
	Direct Democracy	4,061	0.16	0	0
	Unity National Movement	4,039	0.16	0	New
	National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria	3,520	0.14	0	0
	Bulgaria of Labor and Reason	2,636	0.10	0	New
	People's Party "Truth and Only the Truth"	2,522	0.10	0	New
	Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy	1,849	0.07	0	0
	Pravoto	1,757	0.07	0	0
	Bulgarian National Unification	1,671	0.06	0	0
	Independents	564	0.02	0	0
None of the above		87,635	3.38	–	–
Total		2,592,906	100.00	240	0
Valid votes		2,592,906	99.65
Invalid/blank votes		9,042	0.35
Total votes		2,601,948	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,850,969	37.98
Source: Electoral Commission of Bulgaria

Alpha Research exit polling suggested the following demographic breakdown. The parties that got below 4% of the vote are included in "Others".

As per the Bulgarian Constitution, the Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is required to hand a mandate for government formation to the largest party. If they don't propose a government within seven days, or if that government is rejected by the Bulgarian Parliament, President Radev will hand the second mandate to the second largest party. If the second mandate also doesn't produce a government, the president will grant a third mandate to a party of his choice. If no government is approved by Parliament after all three mandates have been returned, new elections will be scheduled. Neither GERB nor PP, the first and second largest party respectively, are expected to be able to form a stable government.^[8]

Following the election, GERB leader Boyko Borisov, who had served as prime minister for most of the time between 2009 and 2021, announced that he was not interested in a cabinet position or returning to the post of prime minister, stating that "now is not the right time for dominance, but for seeking unity." Borisov's previous government had been the subject of the 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests over corruption allegations,^[9] the effects of which had been felt through all of the legislative snap elections held since that point. He stated that GERB was open to coalition talks with any party or coalition in the legislature, even ones that had generally opposed him and GERB, and sought party experts to seek common ground on main issues, including the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2021–2022 inflation surge, joining the eurozone, and becoming part of the Schengen Area.^[10]

The National Assembly remained fragmented, and no party was able to form a governing coalition.^[11] GERB and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) did not have a majority, holding only 103 of the 121 seats needed. Bulgarian Rise (BV) and Revival, which held a combined 39 seats, are considered Eurosceptic and sympathetic to Russia,^[12] similarly to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) with 25 seats. Although generally pro-EU, the remaining parties and alliances with seats opposed Boyko Borisov's past government and refused any possibility of a coalition with GERB due to disagreements over corruption.^[13]

On 18 October, Borisov announced that his attempts to broker a coalition government prior to the first sitting of the new Assembly were unsuccessful.^[14] The following day, the Assembly failed to elect a speaker during its first meeting, the first time this ever occurred. After multiple failed attempts, the Assembly elected its oldest member, the GERB MP Vezhdi Rashidov, as speaker on 21 October, after he was nominated by Korneliya Ninova, the leader of BSP, as a consensus candidate.^[15][16] The gridlock to form a new government persisted throughout October and November 2022 and before a first or second mandate was given, President Rumen Radev stated that he would delay handing over the third mandate for government formation until after the New Year so as to delay elections until March 2023 and avoid the most difficult winter period.^[17]

On 2 December, Radev stated that he would hand the government mandate to the election's winner GERB the following Monday. On 5 December, Radev granted the first mandate to GERB's nominee, Nikolay Gabrovski. One week later, on 12 December, Gabrovski proposed a new government.^[18] His prime ministership was rejected by Parliament (113 for, 125 against, 2 absent) two days later on 14 December, with MPs from the DPS and BV voting in favour alongside GERB.^[19] On January 3, Radev gave the second mandate to PP's candidate, Nikolai Denkov,^[20] but his prime ministership was also rejected by Parliament (63 for, 84 against, 30 abstain, 63 absent).^[21] Radev gave the third mandate to Ninova, although she rejected to form a government in a deadlocked parliament.^[22] Observers already pointed at an unprecedented fourth snap election to be held in 2023, as no new government could be formed.^[23][24]