The Bulgarian election of November 2021-a viable new government at last?

 Yesterday a third legislative election in Bulgaria in 2021 took place, marking 3 legislative elections in 7 months in fact in Bulgaria. 

The most significant change in that election was marked by the entrance of a new anti-corruption coalition, We Continue the Change, which out of nowhere came top of the poll with 25.31%, winning 67 seats, particularly significant when it is also strongly pro-European (Eastern and Southeastern European nations have generally been more Eurosceptic than Western European nations). Also crucially for them and other parties running specifically on anti-corruption platforms, both Bulgaria's "establishment" alliances, GERB-SDS and BSP for Bulgaria, lost seats; GERB-SDS lost 4 and BSP for Bulgaria lost 9 compared to July's Bulgarian election, bringing them down to 59 and 27 seats respectively, and both results represent a record low for both parties even counting the alliances they have led. 

The upstart We Continue the Change party, led by two former Bulgarian ministers, saw other anti-corruption parties take a psephological hit: There Is Such a People saw a dramatic loss of support, bringing them down from 65 seats to just 25, Democratic Bulgaria fell from 34 seats to just 16, and the Stand Up BG! We are Coming alliance crashed out of the Bulgarian National Assembly altogether, losing all 13 seats with just 2.26% of the vote. The Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which has a much more solid base than We Continue the Change and similar parties as discussed in my July analysis, gained 4 seats, and shockingly it was the hardline nationalist Revival Party that was the only new party to enter the Bulgarian Assembly, winning 13 seats with 4.8% of the vote.

With the previous four months having mostly involved failed coalition building, there is little else to say about this election, apart from turnout unsurprisingly falling to a new record low of 39.8%, thanks to election fatigue. This time, however, a stable coalition will form in Bulgaria since We Continue the Change can definitely lead a majority coalition.

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