In Bulgaria, the third and last attempt to form a government in the current legislature has failed, paving a way for the snap elections. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev had recently asked smallest parliamentary group, the 16-seat “There Is Such People” (ITN), to nominate a Prime Minister candidate and to try to form a government, but the party failed to secure enough support.

Earlier in July, the two largest parliamentary groups, GERB-UDF and “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” (PP-DB) failed to form a stable coalition after the inconclusive Parliamentary elections in June.

According to the Bulgarian Constitution, after this latest failure, President Radev is obliged to appoint a caretaker government and schedule new parliamentary elections.

This will be seventh parliamentary elections in Bulgaria in three years. The Balkan country has been plagued by revolving-door governments since anti-corruption protests in 2020 resulted in toppling of a coalition led by the centre-right populist GERB party.