Leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party ready to resign after election failure

The chair of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Krum Zarkov, stated at a press conference following the results of the snap parliamentary elections on April 19 that he will ask the party’s National Council this Saturday for a vote of confidence, and if he does not receive it, he will resign. If he is supported, he promised to work for renewal within the party.

Zarkov, who took over the party on February 7, 2026, in a difficult condition with public trust at 2.3% (according to a “Market Links” survey published on 16.02.2026), said that this result was to be expected. According to him, the century-old party must change, open itself to discussions, and welcome new people and fresh ideas.

Parallel counting by "Alpha Research" at 98% sampling: BSP is out of parliament

The BSP remains outside parliament and without a subsidy, but according to Zarkov, it can cope with this problem. He stated that the BSP is paying the price for its participation in unprincipled coalitions. However, he emphasized that this is not the end of either the BSP or the left in Bulgaria.

The BSP’s highest peak was in the elections for the Grand National Assembly in 1990 - the first free elections in the country - when it won 52.75%, according to BTA archives. The major decline came with the fall of Zhan Videnov’s government at the end of 1996. In the 1997 elections, the left received 22%, leading up to the result on April 19, 2026 - 3.01%.

Edited by Miglena Ivanova