2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election

2023 Bulgarian parliamentary election

← 2022 2 April 2023 2024 →
All 240 seats in the National Assembly 121 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	40.63% ( 1.33pp)
Party Leader % Seats +/– GERB—SDS Boyko Borisov 25.39 69 +2 PP–DB Kiril Petkov 23.54 64 −9 Revival Kostadin Kostadinov 13.58 37 +10 DPS Mustafa Karadayi 13.18 36 0 BSPzB Korneliya Ninova 8.56 23 −2 ITN Slavi Trifonov 3.94 11 +11 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Galab Donev (caretaker) Independent Nikolai Denkov PP

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: 2022 2023 2024 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 April 2023 to elect members of the National Assembly.^[1] These were initially scheduled to be held before November 2026;^[2] 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.^[1]

The GERB—SDS placed first with 69 seats, closely followed by PP–DB which won 64. Tied for third was the far-right Revival and the minority interests party DPS, with 37 and 36 seats, respectively. ITN also entered the parliament after having fallen out in the 2022 election.^[3][4]

On 15 May, President Rumen Radev granted GERB—SDS a mandate to form a government, and the party nominated Bulgaria's European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, for prime minister. GERB—SDS sought to form a government with rival PP–DB to end the political deadlock that had resulted in numerous inconclusive elections. Although initially reluctant, with co-leader and former prime minister Kiril Petkov pledging to rule out working with GERB—SDS, the PP–DB later agreed to negotiate. However, the talks between the two parties broke down on 27 May after the leak of a video in which the leaders of the PP–DB expressed their intentions to reduce GERB—SDS' influence within the civil service. President Radev subsequently handed a mandate on 29 May to the PP–DB to form a government, which nominated Nikolai Denkov for prime minister. However, Radev recommended Denkov return the mandate due to the video's release, which sparked protests and criticism from PP–DB, arguing the president’s statement was unconstitutional. GERB—SDS agreed to restart negotiations with PP–DB to form a "government of experts." Denkov announced on 2 June that the two parties had reached an agreement on the composition of a cabinet with certain modifications that removed "inflammatory political figures". Parliament voted to approve the new GERB—SDS–PP–DB government on 6 June with Denkov as prime minister.