We Continue The Change

We Continue the Change ( bg, Продължаваме промяната, Prodalzhavame promyanata; PP), sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, the former caretaker Economy and Finance Ministers, respectively. It competed in the November 2021 Bulgarian National Assembly election, coming in first place with 67 seats. It was given the mandate to form a government on 13 December 2021, and formed a broad coalition between BSP for Bulgaria, There Is Such a People and Democratic Bulgaria.

History

The party was officially launched on 19 September 2021, after a month-long speculation about its creation. It was created to be an alternative anti-corruption party that could be seen as a "uniting force" between the other parties. Since the coalition was created too late to have its own registration, it has to compete in the elections with the registration of one or more of its member parties. This has been done through Volt Bulgaria and Middle European Class, with the former being a party that recently left the parliamentary coalition IBG-NI.

The party favoured working with the anti-establishment parties, but it has said there is speculation that it will work with BSP for Bulgaria to form a coalition. It had also not ruled out the possibility of working with GERB- SDS or Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), but Kiril Petkov has said that DPS must break contact and drop support of ex-MP Delyan Peevski, and GERB must support the replacement of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, in order to be considered as potential coalition partners. A new movement, the party announced that it would not create a pre-electoral agreement with the other anti-establishment parties, but there was a signed agreement of cooperation following the November election.

In the November election, the party came out on top with over 25% of the vote, and it negotiated a coalition with the anti-establishment parties ITN and DB, alongside the leftist BSP. The government, led by Kiril Petkov, set out to remove corruption within the country and counter the problems faced by Bulgaria, including the energy crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.

On 15 April, Petkov and Vasilev registered their party We Continue the Change.

Ideology and platform

We Continue the Change is a centrist political party, which focuses on rooting out corruption. Economically, the main goals of the coalition are to create a favourable economic and administrative environment for the free development of small and medium-sized businesses and to attract strategic high-tech investments. On a more political level, they seek to stop corruption and misuse of state funds as well as uphold the rule of law. Priority for government formation is the access to quality education and healthcare for all Bulgarian citizens, modern infrastructure. They also stress social policy, in particular improving pensions for retired people.

For the 2021 presidential election, Petkov and Vasilev declared their support for the incumbent President Rumen Radev. For the 2021 parliamentary elections, the coalition campaigned on a vague platform to attract voters of different persuasions, with particular emphasis on the corruption of the former government of Boyko Borisov. Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev, both businessmen, were seen as pro-business and advocated anchoring Bulgaria in the European Union and NATO.

Organization

PP has two leaders, Kiril Petkov and Asen Vasilev. The main part of the coalition is "We Continue the Change" itself. There are two smaller "mandate carrier" parties, Volt Bulgaria, and Middle European Class (SEC), which have surrendered their party lists up to the coalition to be used at election.

Composition

Former members

The following parties were part of the electoral coalition only during the November 2021 election.

Election results

The coalition took part in the November 2021 Bulgarian election, coming in first place with 25.67% of the vote and 67 seats. At the election, the coalition won 67 seats. 4 went to SEC and 2 seats were won by Volt. The main 'We Continue the Change' party won the rest of the seats. In 2022, the electoral coalition dropped down to second place behind GERB, with 53 seats overall.

National Assembly

References

{{Bulgarian political parties
2021 establishments in Bulgaria
2022 establishments in Bulgaria
Anti-corruption parties
Liberal parties in Bulgaria
Political parties established in 2021
Political parties established in 2022
Political party alliances in Bulgaria