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Progressive Bulgaria

Progressive Bulgaria is a left-wing populist and nationalist political party and coalition in Bulgaria led by former President Rumen Radev, who founded it to contest the 2026 Bulgarian parliamentary election. The coalition, presented on 2 March 2026, is composed of three major Bulgarian political parties as members, plus three smaller parties. On 17 April, Progressive Bulgaria was declared a party at its founding congress in Veliko Tarnovo. In the 2026 election, the coalition won a majority of seats in the National Assembly.

History
Formation On 2 March 2026, documents for a coalition called "Progressive Bulgaria" were submitted to the Central Electoral Commission of Bulgaria. The coalition, which was led by Former President Rumen Radev, included the following parties: the Political Movement "Social Democrats", led by Elena Noneva; the Social Democratic Party, led by Todor Barbolov; and the Our People Movement, led by Atanas Kalchev. Radev himself did not submit the documents; this was done by former Interim Prime Minister Galab Donev and former Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov. It was announced that Radev would not be part of the Progressive Bulgaria leadership; instead, Donev and Stoyanov would become co-chairs, as well as the leaders of the three mandate-carrier parties. The party had earlier announced its support for the coalition in a decision by the party's organizational council. == Ideology ==
Ideology
Progressive Bulgaria has been described as left-wing populist, and socially conservative. It combines left-wing economic policies, such as increasing pensions and expand state-owned healthcare with social conservatism and sovereigntism. The party's ideology has been described as putting Bulgarian national interests first; it does not question Bulgaria's membership in the European Union and NATO, He, as well as the coalition itself, have been described as softly anti-Atlanticist or lenient towards Russia and sceptical of Ukraine in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. This assessment has been disputed, with Radev stating during his 2026 campaign that he would not veto EU aid to Kyiv if elected; however, he has repeatedly spoken against supplying weapons to Ukraine and criticised security agreements with the country. Polish political scientist Jan Nowinowski described the party as similar to the Slovak party Direction – Social Democracy, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico; according to Nowinowski, Progressive Bulgaria offers pro-social and interventionist economic postulates and has conservative views in other spheres. He described the party as "nationalist, and at times sovereigntist", "verging on populism", and campaigning on anti-corruption, judicial reform, and fatigue with the political elite. The Polish-language edition of Newsweek characterised the party in similar terms: ==Composition==
Composition
Member parties Supporting parties ==Election results==
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