Fresh turmoil for Bulgaria as govt loses confidence vote

Bulgaria's coalition government collapsed Wednesday after just six months when it lost a vote of confidence among lawmakers, bringing fresh political turmoil and the increased likelihood of an early general election.

But analysts say there is no guarantee that another national vote in this country of 6.5 million people, which last year went through three such polls, would end its political instability.

In the most recent election last November, the party of liberal Kiril Petkov came out ahead and formed an unwieldy coalition government with three other parties.

An energetic, pro-European prime minister, Petkov promised to end Bulgaria's endemic corruption after a decade of rule by the controversial conservative Boyko Borisov.

But cracks in the coalition began to appear soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and earlier this month the anti-establishment ITN party led by entertainer Slavi Trifonov withdrew its support.

Borisov's conservative GERB party swiftly filed a no-confidence motion citing "the failure of the government's economic and financial policy" as consumer inflation soared.

On Wednesday evening, 123 lawmakers in the 240-seat chamber voted in favour of the motion, two more than needed to succeed, while 116 voted against. One member of parliament missed the vote through illness.

It was the first time a Bulgarian government had ever been toppled by such a vote.