Market Links poll: Support for Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria has dropped 4.5 points in a month

Were Bulgaria to hold parliamentary elections now, 21.1 per cent of those who would vote would back ex-president Roumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria, a drop of 4.5 points in the past month, according to the results of a poll by the Market Links agency, announced on March 18.

In second place is Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF, at 18.6 per cent, a gain of 3.2 points compared with the Market Links poll results released on February 16.

Third is We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria, 12 per cent, down from 12.5 per cent in the previous poll.

Fourth is the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning, led by Magnitsky Act-sanctioned Delyan Peevski, at 7.2 per cent, a drop of 3.3 points.

Kostadin Kostadinov’s pro-Russian party Vuzrazhdane has 4.9 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent.

Below the threshold of a minimum four per cent share of valid votes to win seats in the National Assembly is the Bulgarian Socialist Party, at three per cent, up from 2.3 per cent.

Market Links’s Dobromir Zhivkov told bTV on March 18, support for Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria is because of two main factors – Radev avoiding long media appearances and interviews, instead producing statements, and the perception that he directs his attacks against the Andrei Gyurov caretaker government rather than the status quo that the former president claims to be fighting.

Additional pressure comes from the emergence of new, albeit smaller, political entities that are attracting part of the protest vote.

The new poll suggests that turnout for Bulgaria’s April 19 early parliamentary elections will be high – more than 50 per cent said that they intend voting, a figure that counters the view that Bulgarians have again become apathetic about politics after the major protests at the end of 2025.

Looking at the results of the poll, Zhivkov said that it is possible that for a government to be elected, it may require a triple coalition.

The survey is notable for the high share of undecided voters. About 19.1 per cent of those who said they would vote have not yet chosen a party.

The politicians with the highest approval rating are head of state President Iliana Yotova, 49 per cent, and Radev with 49 per cent, though his disapproval rating is one point higher than that of Yotova.

Also in the top three is Gyurov, 40 per cent.

“Most of the politicians in the current National Assembly have quite serious problems with trust,” Zhivkov said.

“The disappointment is also visible in the trust in Parliament. We are in a serious political crisis, which is also expressed in a serious crisis of trust – not only in politicians, but also in the institutions and judicial bodies,” he said.

The poll was funded and implemented jointly by bTV and Market Links and conducted among 1006 people over 18 years of age in the country in the period March 7 – 15 2026 using the methods of direct personal interview and online survey.