After years of political instability, Bulgaria’s parliament has approved a coalition government. Rosen Zhelyazkov, of the centre-right GERB party, will become the country’s new prime minister. The move ends months of gridlock following October’s snap election, the seventh since 2021.
Zhelyazkov secured a slim majority in the 240-seat legislature with the support of 125 MPs. His coalition partners include the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the conservative There Is Such a People (ITN), bolstered by external backing from an ethnic Turkish minority party. GERB leader Boyko Borisov, a former three-term prime minister, relinquished his bid for the premiership after the other parties refused to serve in a government with him as head.
The coalition is an uneasy alliance, blending GERB’s pro-European Union stance with the BSP’s anti-EU inclinations. The BSP’s previous scepticism towards NATO and its call to end sanctions against Russia will likely lead to tensions, especially as Zhelyazkov has pledged to make “the Euro-Atlantic agenda” a top priority.
The new government faces immense challenges. Political infighting over the past four years has delayed reforms in anti-corruption, public procurement, and energy. The administration aims to restore fiscal stability, implement social reforms, and accelerate Bulgaria’s adoption of the euro—despite the public being sharply divided over the latter.
A poll last year suggested an exact 49-49 split between support and opposition to adopting the euro, with 2% undecided. Fears of rising prices, and of the country losing control of its economic policy, are fuelling opposition to the Brussels currency. Political analysts suggest the government may survive one or two years if it delivers on its promises, but the likelihood of yet another election looms.
For Bulgaria, the stakes are clear: political stability and economic progress or a return to the endless cycle of elections.
