site.btaUPDATED No Confidence Motions (1991-2025): 22 Fail, 2 Pass

Since 1991, when Bulgaria's new Constitution enabled the National Assembly to take a vote of no confidence in the Council of Ministers, this option has been used on 25 occasions against nine of the 13 parliament-elected cabinets that have been in office during that period.

Only two of these motions have been carried: against the Filip Dimitrov government, on October 28, 1992 (the first such success), and against the Kiril Petkov cabinet, on June 22, 2022. Both resigned, as required by the Constitution. Twenty-two no-confidence motions have been defeated.

On one occasion, a motion of no confidence was entered and a vote on it was scheduled (for November 11, 1996) but did not take place as the government collapsed amidst mass protests: Zhan Videnov resigned as prime minister on December 21, and his cabinet was voted out of office on December 28, 1996.

No confidence votes have not been attempted against as few as four governments: Lyuben Berov (1992-1994), Ivan Kostov (1997-2001), and Boyko Borissov's first (2009-2013) and second (2014-2017) cabinets. Of these, the Kostov cabinet remains the only one to have served a full four-year term without a no-confidence challenge.

The largest number of such motions - six - has been tabled against the cabinet headed by Simeon Saxe Coburg Gotha (in office 2001-2005), followed by five each against the governments of Sergei Stanishev (2005-2009) and Plamen Oresharski (2013-2014). None of these votes has succeeded.

The subjects of the no confidence motions have varied widely, from corruption to alleged failures in the energy sector, public finance, to foreign and domestic policy, EU funds mismanagement, defence and security. Some votes have been prompted by a withdrawal of government-supporting parties.