Bulgaria's parliament voted 124 to 70 on May 8 to elect former president Rumen Radev as prime minister, granting his Progressive Bulgaria coalition an outright majority and ending a five-year cycle of instability that produced eight elections and three short-lived governments.
The vote confirmed what the April 19 election had made likely: a decisive break with the fragmented coalition politics that had paralyzed Sofia since 2021. Radev's coalition captured 131 of 240 seats, the first single-party majority in Bulgaria since 1997. Turnout reached 50.7 percent, the highest in five years.
Radev, 62, resigned the largely ceremonial presidency in January, a year before his second term ended, to enter parliamentary politics. A former fighter pilot with more than 1,400 flight hours who retired as a Major-General, he had served as Bulgaria's air force commander before winning the presidency in 2016 and re-election in 2021.
Who joins the cabinet
The new government includes four deputy prime ministers and 18 ministers. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Gulub Donev twice served as caretaker prime minister appointed by Radev during his presidency. Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev held the same post in Donev's interim cabinets. Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov also served under Donev and worked in Radev's presidential administration.
Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova-Chamova holds a PhD in immunology from the University of Cambridge and previously served as deputy foreign minister. Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov was chief secretary of the anti-corruption and asset forfeiture commission. Education Minister Georgi Valchev is rector of Sofia University.
The cabinet structure merges the e-government ministry into the economy ministry, reducing portfolios by one from the previous government.
What Radev inherits
In his address to parliament, Radev listed soaring prices, a catastrophic budget deficit, missing reforms, a severe global energy crisis, and escalating regional conflicts among the challenges ahead. He pledged to focus on modernization, economic development, public security, and preventing Bulgaria from being drawn into military conflicts.
Radev also committed to poverty reduction, improving the business environment, expanding high technology and artificial intelligence use, and strengthening the fight against crime. His government must undertake anti-corruption reforms to unlock nearly €400 million in European Union funds that remain frozen.
The former president campaigned on dismantling what he called Bulgaria's "oligarchic model" of governance. At rallies he vowed to "remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power." His supporters span those hoping for an end to entrenched corruption and those aligned with his historically softer stance on Russia.
Foreign policy tensions
Radev's geopolitical positioning has drawn scrutiny from Brussels and Washington. He consistently opposed military aid to Ukraine and denounced the 10-year defense agreement signed between Bulgaria and Ukraine in March 2026 as a "crime" against the homeland. He has stated he would not block EU decisions on aid to Ukraine but would not contribute financially.
Analysts note that Bulgaria remains heavily reliant on European funds, which may constrain any sharp geopolitical turn. The country, with 6.5 million people, is the EU's poorest member state alongside Hungary. Radev received congratulations from both EU and Russian leadership after his election victory.
The April election reshaped Bulgaria's party landscape. The center-right GERB-SDS coalition of former prime minister Boyko Borisov collapsed to 13.2 percent, losing 27 seats. The Bulgarian Socialist Party, successor to the Communist Party, fell below the 4 percent threshold for the first time since 1991. The far-right Revival party lost two-thirds of its voters to Radev's coalition.
What comes next
Parliament elected Mihaela Dotsova as Speaker on April 30 with 188 votes, a smooth process that contrasted with recent years when deadlocks over the post dragged on for days. President Iliana Iotova, who succeeded Radev, formally handed the governing mandate to Progressive Bulgaria on May 7.
Radev has identified the state budget, Recovery and Resilience Plan legislation, and the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council as immediate priorities. The council will select a new prosecutor general, a key post in Bulgaria's anti-corruption efforts. With 131 seats, Progressive Bulgaria can pass ordinary legislation without coalition partners, though constitutional changes require a two-thirds majority.
The next regular parliamentary election is scheduled for 2030. Whether Radev's majority delivers the stability voters demanded or follows previous governments into early collapse will depend on his ability to navigate EU fiscal requirements, energy costs, and the judicial reforms Brussels has made a condition for fund releases.