Bulgaria’s former president Rumen Radev has accused pro-EU rivals of attempting to discredit the upcoming parliamentary election by invoking the threat of foreign interference, warning that the vote could be challenged using what he called the “Romanian model”.

Radev, who stepped down from the presidency in January and is now running for parliament with his newly formed Progressive Bulgaria coalition, said on April 7 that his party’s expected success in the April 19 snap election could be undermined by efforts to question the legitimacy of the vote.

“The CC-DB assemblers are already working hard to hijack the parliamentary elections,” Radev wrote in a post on Facebook, referring to the Change Continues-Democratic Bulgaria coalition.

Radev said the aim was to discredit the vote, as happened in Romania, where the Constitutional Court annulled the first round of the November 2024 presidential election citing evidence of foreign (i.e. Russian) interference.

“The CC’s obvious goal is to discredit the elections by drawing a parallel with the Romanian model in order to extend the power of [interim Prime Minister Andrey] Gyurov’s caretaker government,” he said.

His Facebook post was based on remarks he made during an appearance on journalist Martin Karbovski’s podcast on April 6, excerpts of which were later circulated on social media.

Bulgaria has sought technical support from the European Commission to counter disinformation and potential foreign interference ahead of the April 19 election. The European Commission confirmed that the EU’s Rapid Response System against Disinformation has been activated for the vote and will remain in place for a week after polling day.

The mechanism, which relies on voluntary cooperation from technology companies, non-governmental organisations and fact-checkers, is designed to identify and counter disinformation campaigns and possible external interference in elections.

The request was submitted by the foreign ministry under Gyurov. Radev has criticised the interim government, calling it “practically illegitimate”.

The former president also ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with CC-DB after the election, sharpening a political rift that has widened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Radev’s relationship with the reformist bloc has been complex. The core figures behind Change Continues first rose to prominence in an interim government appointed by Radev in 2021, but the sides have since clashed over foreign policy.

Radev recently criticised a 10-year security agreement signed between Bulgaria and Ukraine by Gyurov and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Opinion polls suggest Progressive Bulgaria is leading ahead of the election, although Radev is still likely to need coalition partners to secure a parliamentary majority.

The new party has also dominated campaign fundraising. Data from the Institute for the Development of the Public Environment show Progressive Bulgaria collected €528,995 in donations in the first two weeks of the campaign, more than 85% of the total raised by all political parties.

CC-DB received €39,011 in donations over the same period, while the Bulgarian Socialist Party collected €22,387.

Radev has campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, promising to dismantle entrenched political and business networks and accelerate economic growth in the European Union member state.

Public frustration with repeated elections and fragile coalition governments in recent years has boosted support for candidates presenting themselves as challengers to Bulgaria’s political establishment.