Internal political crisis in Bulgaria (2021-2023)

Political processes in Bulgaria from 2021 to 2023 are studied. That period was marked by several crisis developments, of which the most prominent was the inability of the political circles to form a stable government. The hypothesis is that the cause of the instability was the split of the political elite into the “center” and “flanks”. The parties at the center of the political spectrum had been the de facto rulers of the country for the larger part of the previous decade. This was one of the factors for the unification of the opposition, which resulted in the isolation of the “centrists” since the beginning of 2021. However, opposition organizations and movements that were aiming to replace the former center were unable to agree among themselves on the formation of a stable coalition due to various circumstances. This situation resulted in a political crisis that ended in June 2023, when the leading right-wing parties entered into an agreement with the “centrists”, abandoning the policy of isolation. The impact that these events could have on the future development of the leading political actors in Bulgaria is evaluated.

Bulgaria, internal political crisis, GERB, “Movement for Rights and Freedoms”, “There is Such a People”, “We Continue the Change”, Bulgarian Socialist Party, “Democratic Bulgaria”, “Revival”, Rumen Radev