Bulgaria’s president says he is stepping down ahead of snap elections

Rumen Radev, the president of Bulgaria, has announced that he will step down, sparking rumors that he will form his own political party in the run-up to snap elections scheduled for the coming months.

Radev promised to resign the day after he told the nation’s Constitutional Court on Monday. If the court approves, Vice President Iliana Iotova will take his place.

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In a televised speech, the 62-year-old Radev stated that he was eager to take part in the “battle for the future” of the nation and that he was “today addressing you for the last time as president of Bulgaria.”

Bulgaria, which is a member of the European Union and NATO, is the first nation to submit a resignation under the auspices of a head of state in post-communist history.

In December, a sizable number of anticorruption protests, for which the left-leaning Radev was a vocal supporter, led to the expulsion of Bulgaria’s previous government. Bulgaria’s eighth consecutive election round will take place in the upcoming snap election.

The centre-right GERB party’s leadership coalition resigned following significant anticorruption protests last month. The current parliament’s attempts to form a new one have failed, and the nation is set for its eighth parliamentary election since 2021.

Radev has repeatedly stated that he may participate in new elections, even though his second term expires in 2026. Boyko Borissov, the leader of the GERB party, has been a vocal opponent of the former Air Force general.

Radev, whose MRF New Beginning party has repeatedly supported the GERB-led coalition, has also opposed politician and oligarch Delyan Peevski, who is facing sanctions from the United States and the United Kingdom for alleged bribery, corruption, and media manipulation.

The former president has criticized European leaders for not doing enough to support US President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a negotiated peace and expressed doubt about Bulgaria’s decision to join the eurozone.

Radev’s plans were not disclosed on Monday. When he was recently asked about starting a new party, he responded that “all democrats, left and right, regardless of where they belong or whether they are politically active at all, are needed because we all need fair elections and democratic, free development.”

Radev’s approval rating, according to a recent Market Links poll, is 44 percent.