Protesters march during an anti-government rally in Sofia, Bulgaria, December 15, 2025. PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Election Essays WINTER OF DISCONTENT AND ELECTIONS Understanding Bulgaria’s 2025 protests and issues of Bulgarian politics

Widespread anti-government and anti-austerity protests erupted in Bulgaria in December 2025, reflecting intense public opposition to the state’s fiscal policies, governance models, and lack of transparency in political and judicial processes, which eventually led to the resignation of the Zhelyazkov Government. The eighth round of parliamentary elections in just five years took place on April 19, 2026 and resulted in victory for Progressive Bulgaria, the new party of the former president Rumen Radev. The country faces ongoing political instability. The current essay sheds light on the central misrepresentations in the portrayal of the protests and underlying structural issues in Bulgarian politics based on the analysis of state documents, media coverage, corruption investigation cases, and digital observations.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2026:1 pp 106-113
Published on balticworlds.com on April 23, 2026

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abstract

Widespread anti-government and anti-austerity protests erupted in Bulgaria in December 2025, reflecting intense public opposition to the state’s fiscal policies, governance models, and lack of transparency in political and judicial processes, which eventually led to the resignation of the Zhelyazkov Government. The eighth round of parliamentary elections in just five years took place on April 19, 2026 and resulted in victory for Progressive Bulgaria, the new party of the former president Rumen Radev. The country faces ongoing political instability. The current essay sheds light on the central misrepresentations in the portrayal of the protests and underlying structural issues in Bulgarian politics based on the analysis of state documents, media coverage, corruption investigation cases, and digital observations.

KEYWORDS: Bulgaria, protests, elections, media, clientelism.

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Alexandra Brankova

  • by Alexandra Brankova

    is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science at the Swedish Defence University working on a project about Geopolitical Narratives. Alexandra is also an affiliated researcher at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian studies, Uppsala University. She holds a PhD degree in Media and Communications from Uppsala University. Her research interests include geopolitical narratives, identity construction, international relations, digital media, & nationalism studies.

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