Sofia, 16 January 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Bulgaria is heading for another early parliamentary election after all three attempts to form a government failed, President Rumen Radev said on Friday.

The announcement came after the third and final mandate had been returned unfulfilled by the small Alliance for Rights and Freedoms party.

"We are going to elections," Radev said.

No date has yet been set, but it will be Bulgaria's eighth parliamentary election in five years.

Radev must now appoint a caretaker government to run the country until a regular Cabinet can be formed following the vote. He is also required to set an election date, expected in the coming months.

The political deadlock follows a wave of mass protests against corruption and an ineffective justice system, which led to the surprise resignation of the pro-Western coalition government in mid-December, just ahead of a sixth no-confidence vote in parliament.

The minority government, made up of conservatives, socialists and populists, had taken office in January 2025 in an effort to avoid yet another election.

MIA file photo