Bulgaria’s President: Aim is to hold parliamentary elections on first possible date after Easter
Bulgarian head of state President Iliyana Yotova said on February 4 that she would do everything possible to schedule the country’s early parliamentary elections on the first possible date after the Easter holidays.
In 2026, Bulgaria’s Orthodox Easter holidays are from April 10 to 13.
Yotova made the statement during her consultations with three parliamentary groups – the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning, the Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left, and ITN – as part of a process ahead of designating a caretaker Prime Minister.
She continued to insist, as she did on the February 3 first day of consultations, that the presidential institution “is not responsible for the caretaker Cabinet, the responsibility lies with the National Assembly”.
“Everyone recognises the bankruptcy of the recent changes to the constitution, which led to the deprivation of the presidential institution from a choice in the formation of a caretaker cabinet,” Yotova said.
Of the 10 office-bearers eligible to be appointed caretaker Prime Minister, five have said that they would agree.
Yotova said that she had “no real say” in the selection, because of the 2023 amendments to the constitution: “This is not my choice and I cannot bear political responsibility”.
She said that she would abide by the constitution and will assign a mandate to form a caretaker government to one of the candidates who had agreed.
The main goal of the caretaker government is to organise the upcoming elections well, Yotova said.
It was precisely the conduct of a fair vote and a legal and just state that the hundreds of thousands of people at the protests in December last year demanded, she said.
“The country faces very complex months ahead, in which important decisions must be made and urgent actions must be taken,” Yotova said.
According to Yotova, the main problem was the “price shock”, which necessitated the need for urgent measures to support the most vulnerable Bulgarian citizens (as The Sofia Globe reported, the National Statistical Institute’s flash estimate of annual inflation in January 2026 – the month in which the country adopted the euro – was 3.6 per cent, down from five per cent in December 2025, and lower than the 3.7 per cent annual inflation in January 2025).
“My hope is that with a stable majority in the next Parliament, these amendments to the constitution will be reconsidered, so that we appear serious as institutions not only to our European partners, but also to Bulgarian citizens,” Yotova said.
The date for the early parliamentary elections depends on the signing of the decree appointing a caretaker government, and they must be held within two months of the interim administration taking office.
(Photo: president.bg)
