Bulgaria’s Political System

How the state is organised

Source: Robert Schuman Foundation: Rumen Radev wins the Bulgarian parliamentary elections (April 2026); IFES ElectionGuide: Bulgaria presidential election 2026; European Commission: 2026 Rule of Law Report, country chapter on Bulgaria^1,4,7

Parliament

The National Assembly has one chamber of 240 members, elected for four years. At its first sitting it elects a Chairperson, who represents the Assembly, sets the agenda and chairs the sittings. It passes laws and the budget, ratifies major treaties and elects the Prime Minister and the government.⁸

See the National Assembly website for members, bills and votes.

President

• The President is head of state and is elected directly for five years, together with a Vice President on the same ticket. Both can be re-elected only once.
• Candidates must be Bulgarian-born citizens over 40 who have lived in the country for the five years before the election.
• The President schedules elections, promulgates laws and can send a bill back to parliament once; parliament can then pass it again with more than half of all members.
• After consultations with the parliamentary groups, the President asks the largest party to form a government, and is Supreme Commander of the armed forces.

Source: National Assembly: Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (English); President of the Republic of Bulgaria: Constitutional powers^8,9

The current President is Iliana Iotova, in office since 23 January 2026.⁵

Government

The Council of Ministers runs domestic and foreign policy, carries out the state budget and manages state property. It is made up of the Prime Minister, deputy prime ministers and ministers, all elected by the National Assembly, and stays in office as long as it keeps the confidence of parliament.⁸

Source: National Assembly: Rumen Radev elected Prime Minister (8 May 2026); Government of Bulgaria: Cabinet members^2,10

The government also has ministers of the Interior, Defence, Justice, Education and Science, Health, Agriculture and Food, Environment and Water, Culture, and Youth and Sports. The full list is on the government website; for the ministries’ websites, see official websites.¹⁰

Courts

• Justice is administered by the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Supreme Administrative Court, courts of appeal, regional courts, military courts and district courts. The Supreme Administrative Court rules on challenges to acts of the government and ministers.
• The judiciary is independent and has its own budget. The prosecution service follows the structure of the courts and is headed by the Prosecutor General.
• The chairs of the two supreme courts and the Prosecutor General are appointed by the President, on a proposal of the Supreme Judicial Council, for one seven-year term.
• The Supreme Judicial Council has 25 members: 11 elected by parliament, 11 by judges, prosecutors and investigators, and 3 ex officio. Elected members serve five years. It appoints, promotes and dismisses judges and prosecutors.
• The Constitutional Court is separate from the ordinary courts. It has 12 judges, a third each chosen by parliament, the President and the two supreme courts, for a single nine-year term.

Source: National Assembly: Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (English)⁸

The 2026 elections

Source: Robert Schuman Foundation: Rumen Radev wins the Bulgarian parliamentary elections (April 2026)¹

Turnout was 50.2%, and five parties entered parliament. On 8 May 2026 the National Assembly elected Rumen Radev, President from 2017 to January 2026, as Prime Minister, and approved a cabinet of four deputy prime ministers and 18 ministers. The government named the budget, inflation, the deficit, a new Supreme Judicial Council and the EU recovery plan as its priorities.^1,2

Iliana Iotova, the Vice President, became President on 23 January 2026 after Rumen Radev resigned. The presidential election is on 25 October 2026, with a run-off on 1 November if no candidate wins a majority.^5,3

The EU framework

As a member of the EU since 2007 and of the euro area since 2026, Bulgaria applies EU law on the single market, competition, public procurement and company law. Disputes between investors and the state can go to the Bulgarian courts and, on questions of EU law, to the Court of Justice of the EU.⁶

Rule of law

The European Commission reviews the justice system and anti-corruption policy every year. Its July 2026 report recorded new rules adopted in May 2026 on holding the Prosecutor General to account and on judicial review when corruption cases are closed, and noted that the Supreme Judicial Council has worked with an expired mandate since October 2022.⁷

In the same report, 22% of companies rated the independence of courts and judges as fairly or very good. Investors usually agree on arbitration in their contracts and take local legal advice.⁷