ENTER 'GRANDEUR'

When Bulgarians went to the ballots in October 2024 in what was the seventh snap election in the course of three years, as few as 16.5 percent, according to a poll, thought the election would be free and fair. It wasn't, the Constitutional Court ruled in March 2025. As a result, several parties lost a number of their MPs and the National Assembly had a newcomer, a political grouping calling itself Grandeur.

What is Grandeur? It is an at least exotic political assortment even when seen against the backdrop of Bulgaria's unusual political landscape. The man representing himself as its "ideologue," Ivelin Mihaylov, is an entrepreneur. One of his brainchildren is a Disneyland-style theme park with strong "patriotic" connotations, located in northeastern Bulgaria. Advertised as a place where fatherland-loving Bulgarians would go and learn about this country's heroic history, it is also being described by some media as a classic Ponzi scheme.

One of Mihaylov's top aides was one Lieutenant-Colonel Nikolay Markov, who used to introduce himself as "colonel," but reiterated in his TV appearances that, in addition, he was also a general in the Russian Army and a brigadier in the US Army. Markov and Mihaylov fell out with each other, trading accusations of disloyalty and even physical violence. Markov claimed Mihaylov had taken the smartphones of several of his MPs, then locked them in a barn for several hours. "Envy, hate and gluttony are human passions that destroy every second being on this planet," commented Markov.

At the October 2024 election Grandeur garnered 3.999 percent of the vote, falling short of the 4 percent threshold to enter parliament. Mihaylov sued the Central Election Commission, and the Constitutional Court ruled in his favour.

The direct result of this is that Boyko Borisov's GERB will lose three MPs and Delyan Peevski's DPS-New Beginning will lose one. Grandeur gained 10 seats in the National Assembly. The government of Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov now commands a majority of 121, which is just one over the 120 limit.

Boyko Borisov was quick to see a conspiracy in the Constitutional Court's ruling. He claimed the ruling had been forged by the Constitutional Court justices appointed by President Rumen Radev. In actual fact, the ruling was made unanimously.

The Changes Continued-Democratic Bulgaria, who view Boyko Borisov as one of their arch foes, produced a different kind of conspiracy theory. Its chief masterminds were President Rumen Radev, Delyan Peevski and the Revival party. The purpose of this, CC-DB claimed, was to "destabilise" Bulgaria so that it would be unable to join the Euro zone in 2026.

Peevski responded that there would be no coup and that he felt ready to "save" Bulgaria.

The realignment in the Bulgarian National Assembly went further as the speaker of parliament announced the cancellation of the parliamentary group of MECH, another fringe political player founded and led by Radostin Vasilev, formerly of the ITN, or There Is Such a People party, and of PP, or Changes Continued. MECH is both a word meaning "sword" and an acronym for Morality, Unity, Honour. It turned out that one of its MPs was a convicted felon in the United States for skimming ATMs. Slavov resigned, and the number of MECH MPs dwindled to under 10, which is the minimum for a parliamentary group to exist.