Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev has announced his resignation, fueling speculation that he will form his own political party after the previous government resigned last month.
In a televised address, the left-leaning Radev, 62, who became president in Nov. 2016 said that he will formally submit his resignation to the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
Under the constitution, the current vice president, Iliana Yotova, must be sworn in by parliament to take the post until the end of the government’s mandate. She will be the first woman to hold the role.
Following the December 2025 resignation of the Rossen Zhelyazkov coalition Cabinet and a subsequent failure to attempt to form a new government, Bulgaria is heading to early parliamentary elections in the spring which Radev is expected to participate in.
In his resignation speech, Radev repeatedly hit out at the “oligarchy” and the mainstream political parties, which he accused of “betraying” Bulgaria.
Former President Rossen Plevneliev, has publicly described Radev as “Bulgaria’s first populist president”.
In a debate ahead of the November 2021 presidential elections, Radev said that Crimea is “Russian” and he has been critical of military aid for Ukraine, calling for a “diplomatic solution”.
Radev also has been critical of Bulgaria adopting the euro as its currency which it did on January 1, 2026.
He said that during his tenure, Bulgaria had progressed in its Europe integration, such as entering the Schengen visa zone and adopting the euro, but claimed these steps had not provided stability.
He said that Bulgarians had “stopped voting”, did not trust the media or the courts and “feel themselves to be poor”.
He spoke about young people who had taken part in street protests late last year, with Radev saying that they did not want to leave Bulgaria. He referenced “patriotic Bulgarians outside Bulgaria” who, he said, bore Bulgaria “in their hearts”.
He did not talk about his political future nor take questions.
Radev is the fifth democratically-elected Bulgarian president of Bulgaria and the first to resign before his term expired.
He was formerly the commander of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, and was first elected president in November 2016 on a socialist-backed ticket and re-elected in November 2021.
