[1] These were initially scheduled to be held before November 2026;[2] however, as no government was approved by the 48th Parliament, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev announced in January 2023 that he would call a snap election.

[3][4] On 15 May President Rumen Radev granted GERB—SDS a mandate to form a government, and the party nominated Bulgaria's European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, for prime minister.

However, Radev recommended Denkov return the mandate due to the video's release, which sparked protests and criticism from PP–DB, arguing the president’s statement was unconstitutional.

Denkov announced on 2 June that the two parties had reached an agreement on the composition of a cabinet with certain modifications that removed "inflammatory political figures".

Although generally pro-EU, the remaining parties and alliances with seats opposed Boyko Borisov's past government and refused any possibility of a coalition with GERB due to disagreements over corruption.

After multiple failed attempts, the Assembly elected its oldest member, the GERB MP Vezhdi Rashidov, as speaker on 21 October, after he was nominated by Korneliya Ninova, the leader of BSP, as a consensus candidate.

[11] His prime ministership was rejected by Parliament (113 for, 125 against, 2 absent) two days later on 14 December, with MPs from the DPS and BV voting in favour alongside GERB.

[12] On 3 January, Radev gave the second mandate to PP's candidate, Nikolai Denkov,[13] but his prime ministership was also rejected by Parliament (63 for, 84 against, 30 abstain, 63 absent).

The 240 members of the National Assembly are elected by open list, proportional representation from 31 multi-member constituencies ranging in size from 4 to 19 seats.

[31][32] BSP sent an official complain to the OSCE and PACE alleging illegal meddling by the caretaker government and president in their internal politics, as well as the election campaign after an interview by justice minister Krum Zarkov criticising the party leadership.

[33] The PP–DB coalition also accused the president of meddling after Radev called them "the parties of war" referring to their support of sending arms to Ukraine.

[43] A similar message was echoed by members of the PP–DB coalition, with DB member of parliament, Atanas Slavov, saying that the new packet of sanctions showed the failings of the current general prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, and that a link existed between GERB, DPS, and BSP due to the former or current connection of the sanctioned figures to those parties.

Borisov insisted that the party had distanced itself away from Goranov, and claimed he had information that the United States was working on sanctions against PP co-leaders Petkov and Vasilev, for financial mismanagement during their time in office.

This potential technocratic government could be supported by both GERB–SDS and PP–DB in order to pass a budget for the year and address the increasing inflation and cost of living in the country.

[72][73] When governmental formation negotiations began, Ninova stated that she would not support a GERB government, unless specifically offered to join a coalition, in which case she would ask her party.

[77] After a three day deadlock, the National Assembly approved GERB's Rosen Zhelyazkov as its speaker on 19 April, allowing for government formation talks to officially begin.

[77] Gabriel has attempted to win over some of the PP–DB members by making concessions to the coalition, including proposing to remove Ivan Geshev as Chief Prosecutor.

[80] On 22 May, GERB–SDS and PP–DB announced that they had reached a surprise power-sharing deal (pending approval by MPs of both entities) for at least 18 months, whereby the premiership would be rotated between the two.

The deal was motivated by a desire to end the gridlock that had resulted in multiple inconclusive snap elections over two years, to move closer to fulfilling requirements for membership in the Eurozone, and to implement electronic voting as well as constitutional and comprehensive judicial reform.

[85] On 26 May 2023, Radostin Vasilev, a former ITN MP who founded the Civic Movement Strong Bulgaria, released a video snippet seemingly showing Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev working towards keeping Borisov out of a court case and agreeing to the appointments of key security services with approval of foreign organizations (particularly the EU and US).

[94] This statement was criticised by PP–DB as unconstitutional[95] and led to a protest outside the Presidential building, with calls for Radev to be impeached, as well as to curtail the powers of the Presidency.

[100] After this meeting, DPS confirmed that they would not "impede" the formation of the Denkov-Gabriel government, and that they would support continued talks about making changes to the constitution.