Bulgaria’s Progressive Bulgaria movement, led by former President Rumen Radev, took a strong lead in the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, April 19, 2026, according to exit polls, but was not expected to win a single-party majority. This marks Bulgaria’s eighth parliamentary election in five years, perpetuating a political crisis that has seen repeated elections, anti-corruption protests, and weak governments in the EU’s poorest member state.
Exit polls projected varying levels of support for Progressive Bulgaria, ranging from 37.5% to 39.2%. Other reports indicated the party was around 38% to 39%, with one outlet describing the result as an emphatic win and another stating Radev’s bloc was far ahead. The center-right GERB party of Boyko Borissov was projected at 15.1% to 16%, while the liberal PP-DB coalition was projected at about 14% or between 13% and 14%.
Capital's Enduring Grip
Rumen Radev, who resigned as president in January 2026 to run for government leadership, stated after initial projections that his movement would “do our best to prevent having to go to the polls” again, calling a new election “a disaster for Bulgaria.” He asserted the need to “work very hard to emerge from these crises” and expressed readiness to “consider different options so that Bulgaria can have a regular and stable government.” Radev also claimed Bulgaria had “a historic chance to break once and for all with the … oligarchic model” and called for a “democratic, modern, European Bulgaria,” vowing to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”
Radev, a 62-year-old former air force general and commander, led the newly formed center-left Progressive Bulgaria grouping, described as left-leaning, center-left, pro-Russia, and Russia-friendly. He has advocated renewing ties with Russia, opposed military aid to Ukraine, and denounced a 10-year defense agreement signed last month between Bulgaria and Ukraine. He also opposes the EU’s green energy policy, which he termed naive “in a world without rules,” while officially denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Boyko Borissov, who has served three terms as Bulgaria’s prime minister and headed the country for close to a decade, cast his vote stating GERB would not enter any coalitions but act as constructive opposition. Borissov underlined GERB’s “extremely pro-European position,” supporting Ukraine and Brussels, and claimed the party had “fulfilled the dreams of the 1990s,” including Bulgaria joining the eurozone in the same year. He dismissed Radev’s proposals as bringing nothing “new.”
The State's Role in Managing Contradictions
The election followed the resignation of a conservative-led government in December 2025 amid nationwide anti-corruption protests. These protests, which drew hundreds of thousands, mainly young people, to the streets, called for an independent judiciary to tackle widespread corruption. The political crisis dates to 2021, the fifth year, when Borissov’s conservative government was toppled amid similar anti-corruption rallies. Since 2021, Bulgaria has been gripped by fragmented parliaments and weak governments, none surviving more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament.
Police seized more than €1 million in raids against vote buying in recent weeks and detained hundreds of people, including local councillors and mayors. Political parties had called on Bulgarians to vote to curb this vote buying, which demonstrates the direct influence of accumulated wealth on the electoral process.
Bulgaria, with a population of 6.5 million, is a member of the European Union and NATO. It joined the eurozone on January 1, 2026, in the same year, shortly after entering the border-free Schengen travel area. Nationwide turnout reached nearly 35% by 4 p.m. local time, with one exit poll putting turnout at 43.4%. Turnout was expected to be higher than the 39% participation in the 2024 election, the third year, though one report noted turnout had slumped to 39% in that prior election.
Preliminary results were expected on Monday, following the closure of polling stations at 8 p.m. local time. The ongoing cycle of elections and political instability, despite calls to dismantle the “oligarchic model,” continues to manage the system’s contradictions without addressing the fundamental concentration of wealth and power that defines Bulgaria as the EU’s poorest member.