Background
Bulgarian political crisis
Following numerous corruption scandals linked to the governing GERB party, several anti-corruption parties made breakthroughs in the April 2021 election. One of such parties was the liberal-conservative group, Democratic Bulgaria (DB). Due to the resulting political deadlock, no government could be formed and the country would go onto face two further elections in 2021, one in July and one in November. Before the November election, two popular ministers from Stefan Yanev's first interim government, Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev formed a new centrist political force, the We Continue the Change (PP). PP would go on to win the November election, and negotiated a government with DB, alongside the Socialist Party (BSP) and another anti-corruption party There Is Such a People (ITN).
The government fell after less than seven months in power, after ITN pulled out due to disagreements over the Budget and Macedonian accession to the European Union. The government was voted out in a Vote of No Confidence. President Rumen Radev called an election in October 2022, in which PP fell back to second behind GERB. No government could be formed as a result of the election, and so a further election was set to be held in April 2023.
The alliance was announced on 10 February 2023. The alliance's stated aim was to get the most votes in the April 2023 election, giving them the first chance of forming a government. A joint declaration titled "We Continue Together" was signed on 13 February 2023 by representatives of PP, Yes, Bulgaria!, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, and the Green Movement (ZD), formally announcing the formation of the alliance.
History
The coalition was formed ahead of the 2023 election. There were disagreements between members of the alliance over the orders and members of regional lists. Prior to the final announcement and submission of the regional lists, some PP members left the party, notably MPs Ivan Hristanov and Alexander Dunchev. On 27 February, Ivan Dimitrov, a DB MP and candidate from Blagoevgrad announced that he would be withdrawing from politics, citing problems with the joint list. Following the 2023 election, where the coalition placed second, they negotiated and formed the rotational Denkov Government with GERB. Following nine months in power, negotiations around the rotation collapsed and the June 2024 snap election was scheduled.
Following the June 2024 election there was increasing speculation that the parties would separate, particularly following the alliance's poor performance, the resignation of Hristo Ivanov, SEK and the Green Movement left the alliance and internal disagreements regarding MP candidate selection. However the coalition ultimately continued, after negotiations.
Following the October 2024 election, PP-DB requested a cordon sanitaire against DPS-NN. In November the coalition proposed Atanas Atanasov as Chariman of Parliament and GERB expressed openness to the idea, as long as it led to negotiations for the formation of a government. On 28 November, the gridlocked 51st National Assembly failed to elect a Chairman for the 7th time, with ITN's Silvi Kirilov (supported by all parties except GERB, DPS-NN and BSP-OL) falling two votes short, due to Daniel Lorer and Yavor Bozhankov not supporting his candidacy. PP immediately moved to expel both members from the group, however DB was against the decision. Nataliya Kiselova from BSP-OL was ultimately elected in early December, with the support of GERB, PP-DB BSP-OL and APS. GERB began negotiations for a government in late December with BSP-OL, ITN and PP-DB, with DPS-NN and APS specifically excluded by GERB. PP did not attend the negotiations, due to GERB not having signed the cordon sanitaire declaration, however representatives of the parties of DB attended. In early January 2025 GERB announced the suspension of negotiations with DB. Soon afterwards GERB announced the formation of the Zhelyazkov minority government between GERB, BSP-OL and ITN. The government was ultimately apporoved with the support of APS and later DPS-NN. PP-DB announced they would be in opposition to the government but would abstain on votes of no confidence until the approval of Bulgaria's accession to the Eurozone in July 2025. The coalition remained in opposition and supported the anti-government protests that broke out later that year.
Following the resignation of the Zhelyazkov government and the scheduling of the snap 2026 election, the coalition announced it would include younger and protest-affiliated MP candidates in their electoral lists. There were disagreements within the alliance, however following negotiations its member parties agreed to retain the coalition. One particular disagreement was whether to include Lorer and Bozhankov as MP candidates, with the parties ultimately agreeing to exclude both. Following the election the co-leaders of DaB proposed merging the three parties of the coalition into a single center-right entity. Nikolai Denkov from PP rejected the idea due to PP's centrist positions. He further commented that there were ongoing discussions on whether the coalition would form one single parliamentary group or two separate groups in the elected 52nd National Assembly, however he affirmed that the three parties would have a joint candidate for the 2026 presidential election. On 29 April 2026, after a three-hour meeting, it was announced that they would form separate parliamentary groups and it was reaffirmed that they will continue to work together on policy areas and legislative initiatives. Nadezhda Yordanova became the leader of the Democratic Bulgaria parliamentary group, while Nikolai Denkov led the We Continue the Change group.
On 3 March 2023, Bulgarian Liberation Day, PP–DB unveiled their slogan "There is a Way" and called for Bulgarians to come together to fight for change, proposing five steps that would ensure a "good European life for all Bulgarians":
- Joining the Eurozone in 2023
- Joining the Schengen area in 2023
- Investing millions into regional development, including especially strengthening farms
- Diversifying Bulgaria's energy supply
- Guaranteeing quality healthcare and education for all Bulgarians
Tagesschau described the PP–DB coalition as liberal-conservative, anti-corruption, and Atlanticist.
In their joint declaration, the coalition laid out their main policy proposals in 13 points, including:
