Bulgaria held another snap election in October 2022, less than a year after the previous poll in November 2021. As with the three sets of elections held in 2021, no party won a majority in the 240-member National Assembly. Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria – Union of Democratic Forces (GERB–UDF), the party of the former Prime Minister Boyko Borrisov, emerged as the largest party with 67 seats. Prime Minister Kiril Petkov’s party, We Continue the Change, came second with 53 seats. The newly elected National Assembly held its first session on 19 October but failed to elect a new Speaker for the first time in its history. On 21 October, it finally elected Mr. Vezhdi Rashidov (GERB–UDF) as its new Speaker. His candidacy was supported by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Bulgarian Rise (BV).

On 5 December, two months after the snap elections, President Rumen Radev tasked GERB–UDF with forming a new government within a week.

The 2022 elections followed the collapse of the coalition (after There is Such a People (PP-ITN) left the government), as well as the subsequent no confidence vote against the government and Prime Minister Petkov on 22 June. On 27 June, Mr. Petkov resigned. He had taken a strong pro-European and pro-NATO position since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A political impasse then prevented the formation of a new government. On 1 August, President Radev decreed the dissolution of the National Assembly (effective 2 August) and called early elections for 2 October. He appointed a caretaker cabinet headed by Mr. Galab Donev, a former caretaker labour and social policy minister.