Bulgarians turned out in large numbers for national elections on Sunday, demonstrating the energy for change that brought down the government with mass protests in December.
Exit polls showed voters sweeping aside the center-right party that has dominated politics for the last decade and voting overwhelmingly for parties that promised change and a crackdown on corruption.
A new coalition, Progressive Bulgaria, formed by former President Rumen Radev appeared to be leading, with around 37 to 38 percent of the vote, according to two exit polls published by Alpha Research and the Market Links polling agency.
The party of the former prime minister, Boyko Borissov, Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, or GERB, which resigned in the face of the protests in December, was pushed into second place with a much reduced portion of the vote.
And an alliance of liberal opposition parties called We Continue the Change — Democratic Bulgaria, which spearheaded December’s protests, made gains, coming in third with 13 to 14 percent.
Both Progressive Bulgaria and We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria have campaigned on plans to fight the stranglehold of corruption that Mr. Borissov, together with another powerful politician, Delyan Peevski, leader of a small party, DPS, have maintained over Bulgaria’s institutions.
“In the new Parliament, there will be a strong anti-corruption majority,” Daniel Smilov, a professor of political science and the program director of the Center for Liberal Strategies at the University of Sofia, wrote in emailed comments after the polls closed.
“This will mark the end of the dominance of GERB and DPS in Bulgarian politics,” he wrote. “They will be prevented from blocking necessary reforms in the judiciary and the security services.”
Turnout was up from previous years, at more than 46 percent, breaking the trend of apathy among an electorate weary of repeated elections in which turnout fell as low as 34 percent in 2024. Six parties passed the 4 percent threshold to win seats in Parliament.
“Considerably higher voter turnout gives serious legitimacy to the new Parliament,” Mr. Smilov wrote. “Formation of government will be easier due to decreased fragmentation.”
Polling stations were busy on a sunny spring day in the capital, Sofia, with lines stretching down the street in some places. Voters said they wanted to change the status quo, a reference to the coalition led by GERB that has dominated the political scene for the last decade and become mired in corruption.
“People realize we need something new,” said Lydia Vasileva, a retired technical university science teacher. “The old people must go because we are at the bottom economically and people are angry with this power.”
Many voters said that they did not expect one party to win outright and that there could be drawn-out negotiations to form a coalition government.
“I don’t believe there could be sudden change out of the blue,” said Stiliyan Manolov, executive director of public transport in the municipality of Sofia. “There is no magic wand.”
Bulgarians have seen multiple governments come and go since the fall of Communism in 1989, most voted out for failing to deliver. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union, yet has remained at the bottom of the European family in terms of economic prosperity and endemic corruption.
Public dissatisfaction reached a peak in the past five years over a growing sense that a corrupt elite was ruling with impunity and that weak coalition governments were failing to enact promised reforms.
Tens of thousands of people filled the streets on several occasions in organized protests, bringing out a cross section of society that included employers’ associations and trade unions, teachers, students and Bulgaria’s ethnic minorities. The number of protesters surprised even the organizers.
“The last government in particular was composed of political parties that the great majority of people saw as corrupt,” Mr. Smilov said in an earlier comment.
A caretaker government was put in place in February.
A former fighter pilot and commander of Bulgaria’s air force, Mr. Radev, 62, was twice elected president and became a popular figure in the country. The post of president in Bulgaria is largely ceremonial, which allowed him to remain aloof from the political maneuvering, and infighting, of daily governing. He resigned from it in January to join the race for Parliament.
Under Bulgaria’s parliamentary democracy, the party with a majority of seats in Parliament forms a government, with the party leader often but not always assuming the post of prime minister.
Mr. Radev has promised to fight corruption and dismantle the “oligarchy,” a phrase used to describe a powerful and shady elite with outsize influence over Bulgaria’s political and economic life.
At a rally on Thursday night of more than 10,000 supporters in Sofia, Mr. Radev said the party was aiming to form a government without needing to enter a coalition with the political parties that have been in power over the past decade.
“Progressive Bulgaria will not go down the path of the previous stitched-together coalitions,” he told an applauding crowd.
“We do not promise miracles, but we promise rules: a law for everybody; peace, because without it everything else loses meaning,” he said.
Mr. Radev’s success in inspiring such a rapid surge of support reflects the disenchantment of many Bulgarians who are fed up with previous leaders. He offered a broad platform that can appeal to a wide cross section of society and draw in older generations, conservative, pro-Russian voters and the younger pro-European and business communities.
Bulgaria has deep cultural, religious and linguistic ties to Russia, said Parvan Simeonov, the founder of the Myara polling agency, and since the full-scale war in Ukraine began in 2022, politics in Bulgaria has changed from right wing versus left to East versus West.
“The tradition here, the cultural tradition, the religious tradition, is rather linked to Russia,” he said, “and Rumen Radev speaks this language.”
Mr. Radev gained a reputation for being pro-Russian in his comments and positions during his nine years as president.
He recently criticized the caretaker government for rushing to sign a security agreement with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. He has complained that the previous government’s decision to join the eurozone in January should have been put to a referendum, saying that the timing was not beneficial for Bulgaria.
But he has filled his party list with sports personalities and technocrats who are decidedly pro-European in their outlook and focused on economic development.
“We are very ambitious people, and very pragmatic,” said Alexander Pulev, 45, a former adviser and a candidate for Mr. Radev’s party from the industrial cities of Stara Zagora and Shumen, describing the new party’s members. “We have shared priorities on how to improve the well-being of Bulgarian citizens. That’s the common topic.”
Mr. Radev has been outspoken about his determination to break the stranglehold of organized crime in Bulgaria and, specifically, to dismantle the influence of Mr. Peevski, one of the most powerful politicians in Bulgaria. Mr. Peevski was placed under sanction in 2021 by the U.S. Treasury for engaging in “corruption, using influence peddling and bribes to protect himself from public scrutiny and exert control over key institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society.”
Political parties have made similar promises before, but Mr. Pulev said he believed the team under Mr. Radev was ready for a fight.
Some political analysts said Mr. Radev had been so purposefully vague about his policies that it was far from clear how he would act if he formed a government.
Mr. Radev will most likely want to continue importing Russian oil and gas to Bulgaria and be against the European Union supplying financial and military assistance to Ukraine, said Mr. Smilov, the professor at the University of Sofia.
“I don’t expect any radical moves from Radev, such as withdrawing Bulgaria from NATO or the European Union,” he said. “For the first time, however, there is a possibility of a parliamentary majority that is not strongly committed to the European Union and NATO. It is unlikely to be openly pro-Russian, but it could differ significantly from previous pro-European majorities.”
Boryana Dzhambazova contributed reporting.
Carlotta Gall is a senior correspondent, covering the war in Ukraine.
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