Bulgaria's endless election cycle brings fresh uncertainty to EU's poorest state
Bulgaria prepares for its seventh quick election since early-2020s political shake-up. Latest polls hint at another split result‚ while the countryʼs euro-adoption plans hang in balance
Bulgarias political merry-go-round keeps spinning as voters prepare for another snap-election this sunday (its seventh since the start of 2020s). The countrys democratic system shows signs of wear-and-tear after repeated trips to polling stations
The center-right party GERB leads pre-election numbers with 26.1% support‚ while two opposing forces – the change-focused We Continue The Change and pro-russian Revival – compete neck-and-neck for runner-up position at 16.2% and 14.9%. A recent Gallup poll suggests only 31.1% of citizens plan to cast their votes; this low turn-out might affect final results
The voting stations open 7am local time and close by 8pm (with first numbers coming in around midnight). The previous election happened just 4-months ago but didnt result in any working government – a pattern thats become all-too-familiar for this EU member-state
- Slow progress on infrastructure projects
- Delayed entry into eurozone membership
- Limited use of available EU funding
- Push-back of planned currency switch to early-2025
The repeated election cycles create a road-block for much-needed changes in the EUʼs least wealthy nation. The euro-adoption timeline already got moved twice due to economic targets not being met‚ now aiming for winter-2025 switch-over
Political experts point out that continuous government shake-ups might push more voters toward non-mainstream options: “A split-up parliament and old political feuds will make forming any working cabinet extra hard“ [[noted by Teneo analysts in their latest report]]
