Bulgaria is heading to snap parliamentary elections after the third and final attempt to form a government failed, President Rumen Radev said on January 16.

Radev handed the last mandate to form a cabinet to the Alliance for Rights and Freedoms (APS), which immediately returned it unfulfilled, paving the way for the appointment of a caretaker government and the scheduling of early elections.

“We are going to the elections,” Radev told reporters, confirming the country’s eighth parliamentary vote since 2021.

Bulgaria has been without a regular government since Prime Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov resigned on December 11, 2025, following nationwide protests against corruption and a botched 2026 budget proposal.

The biggest parties, GERB-UDF and Change Continues – Democratic Bulgaria, returned their mandates earlier this week. ARF’s refusal completes the process, triggering a caretaker government and early elections.

Under Bulgaria’s constitution, the caretaker prime minister must be selected from a list of senior officials, including parliament speakers, central bank leaders, the national audit office, or the national ombudsman and elections must be held within two months.

Political deadlock has plagued Bulgaria for more than four years. Between April 2021 and October 2024, the country held seven parliamentary elections, reflecting deep divisions in parliament and low public trust in state institutions.

The latest political uncertainty comes just two weeks after Bulgaria joined the euro zone on January 1, becoming its 21st member.

Zhelyazkov’s government, which assumed office in January 2025 after months of coalition negotiations, fell amid mass protests fuelled by anger over corruption, including opposition to Delyan Peevski, a businessman sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act and perceived as exerting undue influence over the administration.