Bulgaria, seven elections in three years are not enough. Conservatives still win, but political stalemate persists

Brussels – They are still counting the last ballots in Sofia, and already, there is the prospect of having to return to the polls in a few months. The seventh elections in three years in Bulgaria have done nothing but confirm the fragmentation and paralysis of national politics: with 26.4 percent of the vote, the GERB conservatives win again – as in June and previous editions – but they are far from being able to reach the 121 parliamentary seats needed to govern. GERB’s leader, Boyko Borissov, said he was ready to “negotiate with all parties willing to follow the conservatives’ program.”

With everyone, except the pro-Russian far-right Vazrazhdane (Rebirth), the third party with 13.4 percent of the votes, “since political families in Europe do not allow it,” Borisov, whose party militates in the European Populars, said. In second place at the polls, the reformist and pro-European coalition We Continue the Change- Democratic Bulgaria, led by former liberal prime minister Kiril Petkov, who won 14.3 percent of the votes. It was followed by the two parties that catalyzed the votes of the Turkish minority, which split within weeks of elections because of divisions between the two leaders: the DPS-New Beginning of tycoon Delyan Peevski at 11.3 percent, the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms of Ahmed Dogan at 7.4 percent. The Bulgarian Socialist Party reached 7.6 percent, and the populists of There is Such a People (ITN) 6.8 percent. Nine parties will enter the 51st legislature of the National Assembly.

With these numbers, at least three parties will be required to form a fragile governing majority. “GERB is responsible for forming the government,” former Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said after the vote. Borissov, who has won the previous six elections held since 2021, is again faced with the daunting task of forming a viable coalition, something he has never managed to do. However, this time, he expressed confidence that he would succeed and bring the EU’s poorest country into the eurozone, a step Brussels anticipates for next year. Acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev also expressed optimism that the “political forces will make every effort to establish a smooth and stable government.”

In addition to GERB, the net executive must include the Liberals as a crucial part. But they have called to form a government headed by a neutral prime minister at an “equal distance” from all parties and committed to a clear, anti-corruption agenda. It is not just any demand since Borissov is implicated in corruption cases exposed by the  We Continue the Change leader, Kiril Petkov. If the two formations cannot reach an agreement, Bulgaria will return to the ballot box in the spring for the eighth election in four years. Or at least, returning to vote will be the fewer and fewer citizens who still believe in the possibility of unlocking political paralysis will do so: in April 2021, turnout had been 50.61 percent; yesterday, it stood at 38 percent.